On the first day of winter, the young stoats Aller and Retour leave their den in search of food, finding themselves in a snow-covered valley. Their dark fur makes them immediately visible to predators, especially a golden eagle owl watching them from above. While searching for a way to adapt to the new environment, they witness the seasonal camouflage of mountain hares: Aller manages to imitate the transformation, while Retour fails and is mocked, eventually feeling lonely and out of place. When Aller ends up caught in a hunter’s trap, Retour finally finds the courage to step out on his own and face winter without his brother’s protection. With the help of unexpected allies, he discovers a new confidence in himself and in the landscape surrounding him, learning that change does not mean losing something, but creating new possibilities.
Filmmaker details: Lucia Bulgheroni
Lucia Bulgheroni is an Italian animation director. While studying filmmaking at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan, she began exploring stop motion animation and fell in love with its expressive potential. After working in advertising, where she regularly blended live action and stop motion techniques, she completed an MA in Animation Directing at the National Film & Television School in London. Her main artistic interest lies in exploring themes related to philosophy, psychology, and the subconscious—abstract subjects that find in animation the ideal medium for visual expression. With her short film Inanimate, she won major awards at the Cannes Film Festival (Cinéfondation), Annecy, the BAFTA Student Film Awards, the Nastri d’Argento, and many other festivals. Her second short film, Chromosoma X (2021), also received numerous awards and nominations. Her mixed-media short SeMe (2023) was successfully screened at several festivals and marked her first exploration of live-action techniques. Her most recent works, Aller & Retour, co-directed with Michele Greco, and The Secret Life of Plants, on which she worked as an animator, are currently in distribution and have already received several official selections, including Annecy and the renowned animation festival Anna.
Filmmaker details: Michele Greco
Michele Greco was born in Naples in 1994. He moved to Rome to study Cinema and Stop Motion Animation, later specializing in Dramaturgy and Screenwriting at the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica Silvio D’Amico. During his studies, he wrote, directed, and produced the live-action short films Natalie (2016) and Cotechino con lenticchie (2019), and made his debut as an animator with the stop motion short Lars, una Pulce Assillante (2020). In the following years, he worked in several Animation and VFX studios, first as a Production Assistant and later as a 3D Animator. In 2024, he collaborated with the comics collective BandaBendata, writing scripts for the anthology Leaves. He is currently working with Lucia Bulgheroni at Fantasmagorie Studio on the animated short film Aller & Retour, for which he co-directed and co-wrote the screenplay.