The elephant is dead! But who or what has it on their conscience? Staged as a blend of ecological whodunit and fleetfooted documentary, Krishnamurthy’s animated film brings two different perspectives together. There is the wise voice of the Matti tree, which, like the Indigenous Soliga community, has found its own traditions and rituals for dealing with nature. And then there is the academic, discursive voice which conveys insights in the form of a butterfly. They also each have their own approaches to presenting their ideas about what really happened to the elephant: the Matti tree sings its pearls of wisdom which are visualised by way of drawings and timelapse; the butterfly prefers to make the most recent scientific developments visible as a stop motion sequence in the laboratory. The two of them slowly get closer to each other – for only together will they catch the murderer.

Marie Ketzscher