Sisyphus is a short 5 minute stop-motion animation created by California based filmmaker Eric Wright. The film focuses on the relationship between work and life i.e. family; and the way we balance these different parts of everyday life. 

Wright says that Sisyphus was inspired by an incident that took place in his own life. 

"I was inspired to create this film after my day job pulled me away from a vacation with my family just a few days before we were scheduled to leave. Instead of sulking at work that week, I decided to be productive with my emotions and film a 5-minute stop motion animation in my living room."

Over the 5 minutes we see Wright's protagonist struggle to push a boulder up a hill. We wonder why the character continues to try and complete this obviously strenuous task until we see his family is waiting for him at the top of the hill. This visual representation is a stimulating yet simplistic statement about the push and pull of family and work life that makes it feel easy to identify with the character.

What made this film stand out to us at CFIFF was that it doesn't just say that work = bad, family = good; it challenges the viewer to think more deeply about how work (or other responsibilities) and family and/or friends go together. Sisyphus manages to show us how family can motivate one to work, thus we want to go to work to better our families lives; and how work can make us just want to be with our family. 

Overall a big congratulations to Wright and his team for creating such a well executed and thought provoking work.

Connect with Sisyphus