Rob Munday

Screened at over 100 festivals worldwide, Wrapped from Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg students Roman Kaelin, Falko Paeper and Florian Wittmann is a breathtaking tour through a world rapidly getting taken over by proliferating plant-life. Combining time-lapse photography with impressive CGI this 4-minute film portrays a world where nature fights back against civilisation, creating imaginary that echoes elements of classic science-fiction tales The Day of the Triffids and The War of the Worlds.

If you feel like you’ve already had your fill of post-apocalyptic storylines, don’t fear this isn’t your standard end-of-days narrative. With a story somehow managing to feel both slight and epic in equal measures and no sign of any human characters to really put a downer on things by spending the film’s brief run-time offing each other, Wrapped is a film more intent on dazzling with its unbelievable craft than dispiriting with a bleak plot.

Driven by its impeccable sound design, Wrapped might not have the tension some will be looking for from this type of narrative, but even if its experimental approach to story doesn’t fit what you’re looking for from a short film, it’s hard not to be impressed with VFX work that could put Hollywood to shame.

Already clocking up just under half-a-million views in the 2-weeks its been on Vimeo, this Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg grad film looks to have successfully translated its festival acclaim into online views and it’ll be interested to see what this talented trio turn their hands to next.