The ‘Oscar-losing film-maker’ gained a cult following with his melancholy doodles. Next up, he’s tackling time travel and holograms
Don Hertzfeldt is surprised to hear that viewers have been watching his last few short films – the three episodes of his miniature sci-fi epic World of Tomorrow – in one sitting. “Isn’t that just exhausting?” he laughs, speaking over the phone from his home in Austin,
Texas. “Mentally and emotionally?” He’s not wrong. But it is the kind of draining experience that leaves the audience restored; a gauntlet gone through for the promise of life-affirming enlightenment at the end.
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