Set in an imaginary world of ogres, orcs, and witches, Alberto Vázquez’s (Birdboy, Decorado) Homeless Home imagines what life would be like for these “monsters” if they had very human problems. From love-triangles to daddy issues, Vázquez uses these nightmarish beings to explore current social issues with startling effect.

Introducing us to its characters as they go about their everyday lives, Vázquez’s 15-minute Animation opens with an almost documentary feel to proceedings, as the players in his story introduce themselves, and their problems, in a vert matter-of-fact way. As they discuss their past, present and future, we come to understand that they are all trapped by their situation, desperate for an escape they don’t believe is possible.

Described by Vázquez as a “kind of social and existential history contextualized in a medieval fantasy world”, in an interview with Ramin Zahed for Animation Magazine, with Homeless Home the director aimed to create a short that took the expectations around genre filmmaking and subverted them. Inspired by the books he read as child, citing Lord of the Rings as an example, Vázquez could have easily opted to push the mockumentary angle harder, aiming for a few laughs along the way.

However, the sombre approach certainly lands quite the impact and the stark monochrome aesthetic plays a major role in ensuring this is the case. With the characters created to resemble silhouettes, with only the necessary details added, the only colour that punctuates this shadowy underworld comes from the red of the blood (and fire) that follows the outbursts of violence. It sounds clichéd on paper – a little Sin City perhaps – but that’s a label that’s undeniably unfitting of Vázquez’s work.

Having built his own recognisable style over a number of shorts and a couple of features, the Spanish director is surely one the most distinct voices in the world of independent animation. With a string of awards to his name, including the Jury Award for Best Short Film at Annecy 2020 for Homeless Home, Vázquez has found further success developing some of the aforementioned shorts (Birdboy & Unicorn Blood) into the features and is now working on his third adaptation with a full-length version of Goya-winning 2016 short Decorado in the works.