The countryside in Latgale is bustling with activity — close and distant relatives and neighbours arrive, and a priest rushes in, stroking the screen of his phone. There is a final meal and final songs to remember the departed. As the director writes: “A series of events and details reveal a picture where two different eras overlap.”

This is a subtle, anthropological slice of life, created in hand-drawn animation. Linda Stūre is one of the most internationally recognised young animation directors — her short film Night Shift (2019), her diploma work, was screened at the prestigious Annecy Film Festival, Animateka, among others. The foundation of the director’s mode of expression is based on a deformed realism, seen anew through the freedom and humour of animation, often playing out short humorous sketches about the paradoxes of society. In The End is her master graduation film, which was completed in the animation film studio AtomArt, 2023.”