The Swedish artist and filmmaker lives and works in Amsterdam. By capturing human movements and voices and applying these to non-human characters within fictional, 3D-animated realities, Ullman questions the grounds on which value and sentience are prescribed, why one life is more valuable than another, and what it means to be human.
1.What was your starting point for “Preoperational Model”?
Child psychology, roleplay, and logic. The film’s title is taken from the term “preoperational stage,” a stage of cognitive development where children think at a symbolic level but are not yet using logic. The boundaries between what something is and what it isn’t, as well as personal individualization, haven’t fully formed at this stage, and the child often roleplays in order to understand its surroundings.
2.Do you have a favorite moment in the film? Which one and why this one?
I think some of the choreographic moments of the film are the strongest, such as Sophie’s choreography after her intro speech or her train movements. I believe these parts are the strongest because this is where we can mentally enter her roleplay.
3.What do you like about the short form?
That it’s a good space for experimentation and taking risks.
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“The royalty [aspect] came from, at least where I grew up, this common role play of being a princess and the kind of naivety of this role of the princess in contrast to its actual meaning. That was a starting point, where you will find somebody struggling to understand their world, but still having this kind of ideal of wanting to play the princess.”
interview by Nick Cunningham for SE-NL
„“By using anthropomorphic creatures that exist somewhere between human and animal, I try to destabilize the viewer’s ability to place the characters and identify with them. Hopefully, viewers will have an experience that makes them question their experiences as well as what they project onto other human (and non-human) beings after watching the film.“
interview by Nicholas Bardot for Le Polyester
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PRESS REVIEWS
„Princess Sophie and her maid Jessica prepare for the new day at the royal court. Sophie’s struggle with her future existence as queen
turns hierarchies, role assignments and timelines upside down. A disempowerment story from the perspective of the powerful.“
mention in Rausgegangen Berlin
„„The most beautiful flowers are always those which are hardest to get“, sinniert eine der grotesken Gestalten Philip Ullmans filmischen Triptychons mit einer Mehrdeutigkeit, die auch die inhaltliche Interpretation des seltsam schönen Schreckenskabinetts einbezieht. Die allegorische Aussage des kunstmärchenhaften Kurzfilms entzieht sich jeder simplen Deutung und fesselt nicht zuletzt dank der Verschlüsselung ihrer motivisch und atmosphärisch verflochtenen Kapitel. Das Mysterium ist teil der monströsen Mimesis. „
review by Lida Bach for moviebreak
„Certainly, the majestic Preoperational Model by Philip Ullman (Netherlands) is an animation that explores ways of becoming cognisant about the world and its power structures. Beginning with a queen and a maid, the narrative structure shifts, all the while utilising a realistic animation style that feels very “uncanny valley”. On the surface, the film disturbs, with a slight sense of nightmare logic; yet there’s also a feeling of hope and of strange comfort, and it’s a movie that lingers on and on.“
mention by Laurence Boyce for Cineuropa
mention by Jamie Lang for Cartoon Brew
reactions on letterboxd
Berlinale Shorts 