The Boy Who Wanted to be a Lion

Sometimes, when you are young, you come across something which adds new meaning to life. Occasionally the revelation is so great that it can take over. So is the case with Max, a young deaf boy growing up in the 1960s. His life is somewhat sheltered and his sense of isolation is such that sometimes he takes his primitive hearing aid out to escape from the human world. A visit to the zoo awakens something inside him which to him is how things perhaps should always have been. To his parents, however, his new fascination provokes nothing but worry.

This impressive animated short was directed by Alois Di Leo (a rather appropriate name). Di Leo was born in Lima, Peru, and grew up in São Paulo, Brazil, where he studied graphic design. After graduating, he co-founded the animation and hypermedia studio SINLOGO, which specialises in animated media, graphic and web design. In pursuit of narrative animation he moved to the UK to study at the National Film and Television School. This hand drawn animated short is his 2010 graduation film.