The Blanket is an animated short film centered around an ethnographic exhibition piece owned by Natalia, a native of the Udmurt Republic, who now works at the Estonian National Museum. Natalia shares her experience of seeing museum exhibits that once belonged to someone she knew, highlighting the deep connections between memory, materiality, and cultural identity. The story delves into the interplay between the lifelessness of artifacts and the living stories they embody, challenging the perceived dichotomy between objects and the memories they hold.

The Blanket was co-directed and animated with filmmaker and director Karl Kaisel. The film was made in 48 hours as part of the Experimental Film Lab at Finno-Ugric Film Festival at Estonian National museum. The theme of the festival is Forgotten People. In total seven teams were selected for the experimental Film Lab to work with Finno-Ugric language speakers. We had the luck to get in contact with Natalia who is Udmurt, and works in the National Museum of Estonia. As we explored the Finno-Ugric exhibition she revealed that multiple objects on the display were donated by her and belonged to her family members. Through interviews and conversations with Natalia we learned her family history but also her philosophy about museum objects and the possibility of learning her culture through these objects.

The question was - what does it mean to be forgotten? Looking at the lost and future narratives - from the museum pieces to contemporary objects and people who use them. Each becoming a carrier for a story with a fleeting presence and meaning inscribed to them. What kind of stories will the object of our every day tell to the future generations? Can they piece together form a coherent narrative? There's a paradox in preservation: does materiality immortalise or trap the narrative? What remains when memory fades, and artefacts crumble? Can the past be brought to life through the fragments of the present? What emerges from this recreation? Is it always going to be a crude representation of what once was or is there possibility for something meaningful?

Directed and animated by Regina Vitányi and Karl Kaisel.
Produced by Edina Csüllög and Timár Bogáta.