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Clip description
The short animation The Luminary can be viewed here in its entirety. A grieving insect collector’s discovery of a missing specimen in his collection sparks a search for something more than just a moth.
Curator’s notes
The Luminary’s melancholic and humorous story can be interpreted as a tale of loss, impossible love and repeated mistakes, or even more broadly as a contemplation on the nature of hope and human striving. The man’s light-bulb head becomes a visual metaphor for his emotions and a clue to his attraction for insects. The self-help titles that he reads alongside his insect-collecting books are a playfully overt indicator that his quest is for something more than a moth alone.
The light bulb is one aspect of the film’s beautiful use of light. Kallincos and director of photography Angus Kemp create a beautiful play of light and shadow and a contrast between the electric lighting of the insect collector’s home and the moonlit, wild world outside.
