No Vacancy — Oscar-qualifying film.

A man drifts in search of release from a past that lingers in every room.

No Vacancy braids reality and memory through vivid, shifting imagery as Jack moves through chaotic nights of deep-seated shame, addiction, and the weight of past mistakes, where quick-shifting thoughts coexist in disorienting harmony.

Its structure echoes Tennessee Williams’s memory play The Glass Menagerie and draws on Donald Barthelme’s collage storytelling.

As a filmmaker, I took on multiple roles — writing, directing, editing, designing, animating, composing, and performing the music — to fully immerse myself in the making of this film. My hope is that by doing so, I can create a raw and intimate experience for the viewer. It remains the hardest film I have made: more than 5,000 hours of work.

It took some time for the film to find its audience, but it did, and it has had a major impact on my career.

Short of the Week review

Cartoon Brew interview