Now And Them

Two boys explore the freedoms and limitations of time through play and imagination, while their babysitter reflects on the passage of time through conversations with her older housemate. Across three generations, different experiences of time begin to overlap in a shared space; the local neighbourhood playground. The children’s playful and elastic sense of time meets the babysitter’s growing awareness of time passing, while her older housemate slowly faces the end of her life.
The film unfolds through chance encounters, simultaneous moments, and fragments of play rather than a linear narrative. The paintings made by the real-life older housemate form the visual basis of the film, while live drawing sessions and live sound recordings made on location bring the playground and its atmosphere into the animation.
Moving between lived experience and fantasy, considers time not a fixed progression, but something that changes according to context, imagination, and relationships. The playground becomes a meeting place for these different perspectives - and a witness to the many lives and moments passing through it.