As a director of animated films, Daniel Gray produces shorts which are striking and powerful. He favours the medium of animation as it allows him to venture into the absurd and the unusual without shocking or disorientating his audience. His work seems to speak directly to our own innocence, engaging viewers in his stories from beginning to end.
During his residency at the Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud, Daniel Gray developed his personal project ‘HIDE’.
In 2011, Gray moved to Hungary, leaving his parents and sister in Wales. Despite being in regular contact with them, he always felt regret at the physical separation from his loved ones. This is how ‘HIDE’ was born – a very personal project, a metaphorical piece describing his strange experience of modern-day homesickness in spite of being able to communicate digitally. Fortunate to be able to travel freely and meet people all across the world, he has nonetheless always felt trapped by this feeling, which remains incomprehensible to him.
‘HIDE’ is a journey from innocence to apprehension; it is a surreal and sentimental film with an underlying sense of unease.