In A Way of Being, the Israel-based director Kobi Vogman fashions a rich stop-motion tale from wood and wool. The wordless short follows the journey of a human-like figure as it journeys away from a chair, which is seemingly a place of great comfort, and into a misty void. Vogman and his team explore this exceptionally simple premise with meticulous craft and care. Expressive strings and an ambient soundscape crescendo to a tumultuous storm as the figure finally untethers and leaps into the unknown. Through this swirl of sound and movement, the work communicates acute emotions – respite, anxiety, fear, relief – without the benefit of facial expressions. It’s storytelling is dazzlingly distilled – straightforward, but with subtle contours surely familiar to anyone who’s ever navigated a fraught, foggy journey of their own, and emerged stronger for it.

The neural reward that makes avoiding your fears feel so good
We’re told that facing our fears can help us overcome them – but this misses the other intoxicating part of the equation
by Muhammad Badarnee & Mohammed R Milad






