Canned – A Fragile Reflection on Isolation and Body Image
In the hauntingly delicate short Canned (2024), Belgian director Hasse Van Overbeke transforms the quiet gestures of clay into a raw metaphor for self-image and survival. The six-minute stop-motion animation tells the story of Sam, a teenager who retreats from bullying and body dysmorphia by placing a fishbowl over their head — a symbol that oscillates between protection and entrapment.
Created as Van Overbeke’s master’s graduation film at RITCS – School of Arts in Belgium, Canned explores the fragile boundary between refuge and isolation. Its central image — the glass bowl — becomes a physical manifestation of anorexia: a barrier that distorts reality while offering the illusion of safety. The director has described the project as deeply personal, drawn from her own experiences with self-perception and the struggle to feel “enough.”
Overbeke’s decision to use stop-motion clay animation was intentional. The pliable medium mirrors the mutable, uncertain relationship Sam has with their body. “Clay feels alive,” she explained in a festival interview. “It can stretch, collapse, or disappear, just like how our bodies can feel under pressure.” The visual language of the film relies on texture and distortion — soft lighting, mirrors, and glass refractions that amplify Sam’s disconnection from the world around them.
The production spanned nearly two years, including 117 shooting days for a runtime just over six minutes. The team included producer Sam Scheunders, cinematographers Thomas Berger and Cédric De Smedt, editor and composer Han Lauwers, and sound designer Egon Jacquemyn. Despite its small scale, Canned achieves a remarkable sense of atmosphere and intimacy — every frame a quiet echo of anxiety and hope.
The film has been warmly received across international festivals. It premiered in competition at the ICONA Ionian Contemporary Animation Festival (Greece) and was later selected for the CRAFT International Animation Festival (Indonesia) and IN THE PALACE International Short Film Festival (Bulgaria). In 2025, Canned earned the Junior Jury Award for Best Student Film at MONSTRA International Animation Festival in Lisbon, recognizing its emotional depth and craftsmanship.
Beyond its awards, Canned resonates because it feels lived-in — an honest portrayal of adolescence, alienation, and the uneasy process of self-recovery. Van Overbeke’s clay figures don’t just move; they breathe, tremble, and attempt to grow beyond their own boundaries. In its short span, Canned reminds us that animation can reveal invisible pain with a kind of tenderness live-action rarely captures.
