Based on Swedish folklore, Önetta is an animated short film, a dark romance about a sea spirit (or havsrå) who resists losing his lover as settlers arrive on their mysterious Baltic island to tear them apart. The film explores how we navigate change and how we as humans impact our environment through social development.
Önetta is an animated short film that presents the origin story of Gotland as a tragic romance between a rå (or folk nature spirit) and the island that created him. As a settlement narrative, the film also explores the ethics of human society’s impacts on our environment. What does it mean to settle a new land, and what does it mean to lose one?
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The characters and world of the film draw on Swedish folk stories, historical texts, and the archaeology of Gotland, the Baltic island for which the Gutasaga is named. The "picture stone" tradition unique to Gotland – surviving examples range from the 5th to the 13th century – plays an important role in the story.
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As our first project, Önetta fits both the ethos and the tone and style of our animation studio. Stories that ask big questions, suitable for all audiences, but with a more adult tone reminiscent of animated films of an earlier era (...our childhood!).