Allan George's animated short follows kaumātua Shorty chasing his wife Lena's memories as they escape her in the form of bubbles. George wrote it while his mother was declining with mate wareware, and set it in his own Ngāti Kahungunu world in Wairoa, down to the marae, the hat on the hook and objects lifted from family photographs.

Twelve minutes, six scenes, no dialogue. Everything the audience understands about Shorty and Lena arrives through the picture and the score, which meant writing in close-up: solo bass clarinet, cello arco and pizzicato, double bass col legno, fractured string gestures and chamber textures, none of it louder than the story. The bubbles needed a sound of their own, so I recorded breath and whistling, Allan's included, and built the memory material out of that.

Produced by Jason Tāhū Taylor with Mukpuddy Animation. Co-winner of the Letterboxd Award for Māori Pasifika Talent, and selected for the New Zealand International Film Festival.