Borders: For Peace

Exploring the Absurdity of The Lines Drawn by Human Beings and Called ‘Boarders’

Made as part of the Flemish Audiovisual Fund animation project, 12 Minutes About Peace, which marked the centenary of the First World War, Borders, by Plan78 animation studio in Antwerp Belgium, is an exploration of these man-made lines drawn by human beings, otherwise known as ‘borders’.

‘Just the idea that at a certain moment in history, a group of people decided that these invisible lines were real and would carry enormous importance, seems incredibly strange to us.’

In the tongue in cheek animation, two people meet at a border, with one of them taking the separation very seriously, whilst the other sees the line as more of a suggestion. Eventually, they reach a solution, which blurs the lines of separation, whilst maintaining the partition. We spoke to Plan78 animation duo, Reinout Swinnen and Bram Van Rompaey about this whimsical yet thought inducing piece:

The Plus: How did you come up with this subject, after being briefed to make an animation about peace?
Bram Van Rompaey:
The very first thing that came to mind, was the absurdity of borders. Our own little country (Belgium) is divided into a Flemish (dutch speaking) region, and a Walloon region (french speaking), with Brussels smack-dab in the middle were they speak all kinds of languages. The funding for this initiative came from the Flemish part. This of course is already a fine example of the absurdity, with such a tiny country being divided by an imaginary line.

TP: But you decided to take a lighthearted approach rather than something serious.
Reinout Swinnen:
We didn’t want to explain the absurdity of borders but rather point it out. We have the tendency to pin point these lines meticulously on drawn out maps. It’s this strict abiding of the rules of what the border stands for that interested us.

TP: Do you think the world would be better off without borders?
We don’t think that a border in itself is the big issue, but what the border stands for. It is the rigidly standing by the need to protect them, and defending them with every means necessary that causes a lot of problems. But once again, we don’t want to convey a message of who’s right or wrong.