The Old Man and the Bird

Summary

Snowflakes drift through the forest. An old man, as old as the hills, lives alone in a remote hut. The winter is so cold that he can barely move his limbs. When a robin flies against his window and falls to the ground the old man first has to pause for thought. Then he pushes open the heavy front door and stomps outside to help the bird. Out in the deep snow his strength begins to fail him. But no sooner does he take the tender creature in his hands than a change comes over him. Life radiates in luminous colours and returns to the old man’s hut. As it used to. Or is this just one last memory? An inventively animated rumination on love, on bidding farewell and the cycle of life.

Source: 65. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)