Spindrift

There's a harmony to the work of Selina Wagner (previously working as Selina Cobley), a gracefulness of motion to her animation, which catches your emotions in its flow.

Many of her films have drawn on specific myth, such as Takuskanskan and Crow Moon, and though the action in Spindrift could have taken place yesterday, it too has a mythical sweep.

The film - which has been nominated for a Scottish BAFTA - concerns a little girl, living a sad little life with her unhappy parents. Wagner shows us much of this through body language, her feelings apparent through movement, such as a walk up the beach, hands thrust deep in pockets, emphasising her isolation, or the moment of joy when she breaks into a run. Her mother, about to leave, is the epitome of forlorn, everything marked out by droop.

It's a simple story but well told, with excellent technique. Wagner uses colour well, so that the girl's red coat and bright yellow boots mirror the plumage and beak of an eagle she encounters. The boy that she meets is also dressed in corresponding colours, with his red back pack and yellow trousers, the deliberately limited palette adding to the sense of harmony.

If the animation of the people in the film is kept straightforward, the sea at the shoreline where the action takes place remains complex. These different textures add to the film. Wagner also makes excellent use of the wind to economically recreate the feel of Scotland - with the spindrift of the title referring to spray that is blown from the crests of the waves. Though the animation may be simple, the emotions it conveys are anything but.