Synopsis
When the world turns upside down, we have a choice to firmly hang on to old ideas or embrace the new view. In Chasing Birds we follow a little girl who playfully chases a bird throughout a chaotic and transformational period. Chasing Birds is a story about disconnection between people and how change can be a terrifying and invigorating experience, depending what angle you see it from. Inspired by the directors own anxiety and her daughter Sunneva.
Festivals
AWARDS
Chris Frayne Award for Best Animated Film - Ann Arbor Film Festival, USA, 2024
Best Icelandic Short Film - Reykjavik International Film Festival, Iceland, 2022
Best Animated Short - Rendez-Vous Quebec Cinema, Canada, 2023
Best Animated Short - Shanghai International Film Festival, China, 2023
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Solveig Anspach Award - Iceland, 2024
DokuFest Kosovo - Kosovo, 2025
SELECTIONS
Ottawa International Animation Film Festival, Canada, 2022
Vancouver International Film Festival, Canada, 2022
Reykjavik International Film Festival, Iceland, 2022
Available Light Film Festival, Canada, 2023
Rendez-Vous Quebec Cinema, Canada, 2023
Kingston Canadian Film Festival, Canada, 2023
The Animated Film Summits, Canada, 2023
Courts d'un soir, Canada, 2023
Filmfest Dresden, Germany, 2023
Shanghai International Film Festival, China, 2023
Animest - Bucharest International Animation Film Festival, Romania, 2023
Magic Nights Festival, France, 2023
Abitibi-Témiscamingue International Film Festival, Canada, 2023
Cinanima Animation Film Festival, Portugal, 2023
Aguilar de Campo Film Festival, Spain, 2023
FICFA, Canada, 2023
BogoShorts, Colombia, 2023
Pöff Shorts, Estonia, 2023
Cinema on the Bayou, USA, 2024
Animation First Film Festival, USA, 2024
Courts mais Trash, Belgium, 2024
Tricky Women / Tricky Realities Animation Festival, Austria, 2024
Monstra, Lisbon Animated Film Festival, Portugal, 2024
Ann Arbor Film Festival, USA, 2024
Vienna Shorts, Austria, 2024
Warsaw Animation Film Festival, Poland, 2024
ONLINE
Labocine: Birds on Record issue, March - USA (Web), 2025
Director: Una Lorenzen
Script: Una LORENZEN
Imafes: Una LORENZEN
Sound: Darri LORENZEN
Editing: Una LORENZEN, Kristján LOÐMFJÖRD
Music: Gunnar TYNES
Production: Galilé MARION-GAUVIN — PRODUCTIONS UNITÉ CENTRALE (Canada); Heather MILLARD — COMPASS FILMS (Iceland)
Version
Silent
Format
16:9/5.1
DCP, ProRes, H264
Una Lorenzen is an Icelandic film director and designer. In recent years she has worked on and directed award winning documentaries, doing concept development, design and animation. Her latest short film Chasing Birds won the Best Icelandic Short at Reykjavik International Filmfestival in 2022. In 2021 she was nominated by Cinema Eye Honors for outstanding animation for the documentary Rebel Hearts, which also traveled to festivals such as Sundance and HotDocs. In 2016 she co-directed the documentary Yarn which won an Audience award at Nordisk Panorama and received excelent reviews in New York Times. Una received a Bachelor Degree in Graphic Design from Iceland Academy of the Arts (2004) and a Masters Degree in Experimental Animation from CalArts in California (2009). She lived in Montreal, Canada for ten years but now resides in Iceland. She collaborates regularly with a wonderful team of animators, directors and producers in North America and Iceland.
