a film by STEPHEN IRWIN //
narrator MARIJA MITIĆ //
"Mother and Father lay the child in his cot at the same time every night. However, come morning, only a shallow crater remains; a baby-shaped depression. The boy was destined to be a wanderer."
BAFTA LONGLIST - British Short Animation 2024
SPECIAL MENTION - London International Animation Festival 2023
SPECIAL DISTINCTION PRIZE - Bucheon International Animation Festival 2023
BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT - Animatricks 2023
AUDIENCE AWARD – Vienna Shorts 2023
EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE PRIZE - KIFF 2023
…I consider it a modern masterpiece – one I’m thrilled to finally share on our site.
...World to Roam isn’t so much about events as it is about emotions. We all have firsthand experience with the stages of growing from child to adult, and whether you’re a parent or not, you understand the emotional strain these transitions place on those looking after you. What Irwin’s film truly captures, instead, are the intense feelings of being a guardian for another human and, much like his film, how all-consuming this experience is.
Rob Munday, Short of the Week
In the surreal, haunting, and heartfelt World to Roam, filmmaker Stephen Irwin poignantly explores the challenges of child-rearing through a stunning visual feast that masterfully blends elements of horror, fable, and fantasy.
Chris Robinson, Cartoon Brew
...Irwin has created a film that allows each of us to arrive at our own answers to these questions and be right – whatever the answer we nominate. Once the film comes up to speed and once we have settled in to the weird world and the bizarrely off-kilter character’s he has populated that world and all the spaces within with, the capacity for almost infinite interpretation cracks wide open in that way that Irwin mastered more or less from the beginning of his time as an animator. He remains an utterly unique animator whose gorgeously ghostly, other worldly oeuvre is still very much on the rise.
Malcolm Turner, London International Animation Festival
Stylish and haunting…
Ramin Zahed, Animation Magazine
The narrative is tender, but the execution stands in stark contrast with a grainy, dark filter and almost morbid character designs latching on to the audience and instilling a sense of dread and anxiety that doesn’t let up.
Jamie Lang, Cartoon Brew
Parenthood is more than a societal role, but rather it is a journey, one that involves multiple layers and states of joy, imagination, fear, anxiety, and grief. That’s the central thinking behind Stephen Irwin’s achingly beautiful animation…
Fedor Tot, Encounters Film Festival
For up-to-date festival screenings: instagram.com/stepheniiirwin