The story of a sculptor made blind by the search for elusive perfection, who can no longer see the beauty in his works even when they are able to come to life.
Playing God tells about the tormented search of a blind sculptor immersed in the darkness of his atelier, which is surrounded by countless failed sculpture experiments. He once again tries to give shape to a human figure in plasticine, sculpting with the energy of every single muscle. His work is finally successful and the creature comes to life. While the Sculptor analyses the work, he is dissatisfied; he cannot see the perfection in her despite the vitality he has succeeded in instilling in her through the generative act of creation. He is blind due to the loss of objectivity and love for his original artistic research. In the end, he abandons her like the other copies of her, cold and detached, careless of the feelings of the creature that he himself has generated, leaving her to her fate and relegating her to a state of failure. The sculpture, on the contrary, is unable to do anything but love its creator and in a last and desperate attempt to rejoin him, tries to reach him but fails.

Director
Matteo Burani and Arianna Gheller
Two professionals from the field of stop-motion animation, who co-founded Studio Croma Animation in Italy. Matteo works as puppet maker. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, where he was able to improve his art skills. Arianna graduated in Animation from Turin’s Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and is now working as animator and VFX artist. In 2018, they felt the urge to create a more personal project in order to express their artistic and technical point of view. This is how Playing God was born.
matteonicolo.burani@gmail.com
Country of production
Italy
Target audience
all audiences
Animation Technique
stop-motion puppet animation, claymotion and pixelation
Production company
Studio Croma animation