Halo Productions

The story of a cat who, legend has it, longs to become human.

A man is travelling on a long haul express train journey from Amsterdam to Paris. He shares his sleeper compartment with another man who he engages in conversation. He learns that the man is a cannibal who intends to kill and eat him. The man is unsure of where his life is going and begins to be swayed by the cannibal's assertions that being eaten would give his life meaning and purpose. However, how long can the man stall for, with questions on the finer points of eating someone?

With the world exploding all around him and gunfire ringing in his ears, a soldier lies bleeding from a critical wound. In his hand is a picture of his mother. As he slips away, he sees all of life in front of him, slipping into oceans and through forests as he heads back to his home and the breaking hearts of his family.

Based on themes arising from real life interviews, Touch Wood looks at the nature of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The action takes place over one night where we see a man preparing for bed. However instead of falling asleep he spends the time checking and rechecking lights, doors and clocks, obsessively securing the house for his night’s rest. Stylistically the animation highlights the divide between the character and his attempt to control his increasingly malevolent environment. The film explores the uneasy balance between the man’s desire to control his life and the compulsions that try to possess him.