Webby Award-winning director Stefano Bertelli’s stop-motion film about a man’s dreamlike inner journey between reality and limbo used low poly 3D paper shapes with many smaller flat surfaces, folds and creases; tough to animate, lovely to watch.
For more than 20 years, Webby Award-winner Stefano Bertelli has been directing and producing live-action and animated music videos for renowned artists around the world, beginning with independent bands in his home country of Italy before graduating to the likes of Eminem, Motörhead, Purple Disco Machine, and Robbie Williams, among others.
But in 2014, as an experiment exploring alternate methods to live-action production, Bertelli created his first animated feature, Acid Space, a horror story about a terrestrial rock band who finds themselves on a distant planet where all music is banned by a powerful tyrant. While Bertelli describes the film as “an amateur feature made with friends,” he says it also provided the career catalyst that led to him embracing paper stop-motion as his main production focus. And it was what ultimately led to his latest feature, Spacetime Chronicles.
“This feature represents my first true film, even though it’s technically my second,” shares Bertelli. “It's the first one I wrote, and it comes after reaching a more mature technical stage in my skills as a creative.”
Directed by Bertelli and produced through his company Seenfilm, Spacetime Chronicles tells a surreal, dreamlike tale about the inner journey of a man named Fred, suspended between reality, dream, and limbo. From a departing airplane to claustrophobic school corridors, visionary landscapes to cryptic dialogues with Freud — a cat embodying his unconscious — Fred confronts fears, desires, and unresolved memories. Through symbolic episodes — bullies, exams, missed encounters, a mysterious girl on a tram — the film weaves a mosaic of existential doubt and fragile identity. At its core lies a quiet realization: life is not about reaching a destination, but about the path itself, with its uncertainties, repetitions, and fleeting moments of beauty.
The film is currently on the film festival circuit and will screen next at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI) on April 26 after just screening April 18 at the Athens International Film and Video Festival. Screenings are planned for the Asolo Art Film Festival in June and an Italian premiere in Milan that same month, with a wider-spread release near the end of 2026.
Check out the trailer:
“I had intended to make a film without imposing a rigid structure,” explains Bertelli. “The first scenes show a man emerging from nothing, from emptiness, and encountering a black hole. That empty space represents the protagonist’s mind, a state of disorientation that can happen in real life when trying to escape a personal stalemate. A condition that is also symbolized in the film by an airplane in free fall.”
He continues, “I’ve always been drawn to a psychological and dreamlike approach to storytelling, focusing more on a character’s inner journey than on a traditional narrative.”
True to Bertelli’s wishes, Spacetime Chronicles didn’t follow traditional filmmaking structure, both with its story and its production. The film’s production team only included Bertelli and Riccardo Orlandi; it wasn’t fully written when animation began; and the script continued to evolve as production proceeded, with changes made right up until the end, just before the film was submitted to festivals like Anima Brussels and BAFICI.
“I remember that even once the film was finished, I felt something was missing,” admits Bertelli. “I added the flight simulator scene at the very end of production, which appears near the beginning of the film. That scene connects well with the rest of the story and helps deepen the understanding of the character.”
But the most challenging aspect of making Spacetime Chronicles was undoubtedly its animation. From character design to set design, Bertelli and his team used low poly paper craftsmanship; 3D paper shapes made up of many smaller flat surfaces joined by folds and creases. These geometric-looking models are lovely to look at but difficult to animate while maintaining their crisp edges.
“We spent years experimenting with this style, even before the film, mainly through commissioned music videos and commercials,” says Bertelli. “With Riccardo, who handled the sets and robotics mechanics, we constantly worked to improve and refine our process. For the stop-motion, we use both stepper motors and traditional manual rigs to animate elements frame by frame. For the slow-motion sequences, everything works against gravity, so the approach changes. We sometimes use small controlled explosive charges, triggered by sensors or simple buttons, to generate real physical reactions. In some cases, like the airplane scene, we built custom armatures around the paper model that rotates the entire structure. This allows all the internal elements to move naturally, creating a chaotic motion similar to a washing machine effect.”
While the engineering was complex, and the fragile paper had to be handled with care, Bertelli never doubted his choice of medium. “Because it gives me unlimited possibilities to represent anything I imagine,” notes Bertelli. “Paper is fragile but also very flexible. It allows combining multiple techniques such as 2D, 3D, cut outs, rotoscope, and slow motion. Everything in the film was used with clear, narrative intention. It reflects human fragility, which is central to the film’s theme.”
Bertelli says animating his main character - from running to expressive close-ups, head movements, and crawling - was such an engaging and rewarding process that he still treasures and keeps every one of the character’s paper cut-outs used in their animated sequences.
“I became very attached to him,” admits Bertelli. “I want to show that there are no real limits or excuses when it comes to creating. Difficulties are part of the process, and mistakes, every imperfection, are what make a story feel human. Especially in a time of major technological transformation, I think this perspective is even more important.”
Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.
