Treasure

Directed by Samantha Moore

2022

Two stories centuries apart but inextricably linked to each other is the focus of a new animated short called Treasure from filmmaker Samantha Moore.

The first of the two tales opens the 7-minute film where an older gent drives to the countryside to be greeted by a dog. Saying hello to a farmer, the man is given permission to head into the fields with a metal detector and headphones, searching for relics unknown.

But a transition takes the audience to a long-lost past as we zoom in on a small village before peeking into one of the wooden huts. Here, an indigenous man is carving a small gold pendant to which he passes to his wife on the water’s shore.

Inspiration for Moore’s film has come directly from the Shropshire sun pendant (news link), a recently discovered 3,000 year-old artefact found in the Midlands.

And Moore uses this riveting true-life tale to cleverly edit the film with beautiful transitions – one literally takes us through the soil of one era to the location of the other – which really helps create a link between past and present. A map and even the presence of a dog brilliantly captures how one era connects to the modern world.

Returning to the past once more, the wife is now pregnant whilst the treasure hunter continues to scour the landscape, coming across crows and cows before taking a break. The family of the past also take a break with a ritualistic meal before we are shown the wife’s new-born baby.

Created using natural watercolours, the film is gorgeous to look at. The paint giving the short an ‘earthy’ tone that echoes its themes incredibly well. This is complimented by an well-composed score from Elizabeth Purnell whose music paints its own picture of emotional resonance.

Moore also worked with a team of historians from Shropshire and the British Museum to ensure authenticity and this shines through as well.

The pendant’s association with the sun, whose rising and falling appears to parallel the pendant’s sacrificial fall into the water and eventually into the ground, again joins the viewer between time periods. And eventually, the man uncovers the sacred talisman as it rises itself out of the earth, glistening bright like a new day.

Once more, the subtle animation techniques compliment a chronicle of intertwined histories showing we are really not that far from a past that sometimes feels long gone.

In the end it would be easy to say Treasure is a treasure of a film, but that’s just what it is and comes highly recommended with its exceptional creativity and heartfelt story.

Moore’s film is a stunning piece of work, intelligent in its simple structure, smart with its symbolism and emotional in its artistry.

★★★★★

Michael Sales