Hotel Oblique

A budgie finds itself in a luxurious wellness hotel that promises stressed birds peace and relaxation. But between the lulling sound of the fountains and soothing massages, it longs to return to its cage. Hotel Oblique deals with the tension between autonomy and belonging, between leaving familiar structures behind and searching for orientation in unfamiliar surroundings. It is about the need to set boundaries and listen to oneself, despite the expectations of others.

Merlin Flügel, born in 1987 in Germany, is an independent director and animator based in Berlin. His animated short films have gained international recognition at major film festivals like Berlinale, Go Short, Pictoplasa and Animateka. His graduation film Rules of Play won the “Best Experimental Animation” award at CutOut Fest in Mexico, as well as the Jury Award in Annecy (2019). He occasionally teaches and gives workshops, for example at Hochschule Düsseldorf and Nanjing University of the Arts.