“A film about community (on San Francisco’s infamous bus lines) made by community (78 animators in 17 different countries ).”
Metro6
Today is an important day for Zak, but everything is going horribly wrong. (When his car won’t start), he has no choice but to use public transportation. During his 8-minute bus ride, Zak goes through a deeply personal metamorphosis and comes to realize the true value of human interaction.
Metro6 takes place in a world in which all necessities can be delivered without any human interaction. Digital convenience has eroded the need for day-to-day human connections—even ride share drivers are being replaced by autonomous driving solutions. Below the comedic surface of public transportation lies a warning for all of us living in the convenience-uber-alles 21st century to not lose the importance of human connections. As Zak becomes more socially aware and appreciative of his diverse community, so do we.
Director Profile
Geoff Hecht
Director Bio :
Geoff Hecht is a multi-award winning Creative Director, and more recently a multi-award winning Animation Director, based in San Francisco, California.
He has close to 20 years experience between training and working in Animation. He has over a decade of experience building and leading teams of artists.
Between 2011 and 2018, Geoff founded and co-owned one of the more reputable boutique Animation and Vfx studios in San Francisco, Hectic Digital, which was sold to InVision Communications in July of 2018.
First time film director with the release of animated short film Metro6.
Director Statement :
Metro6 is a comedy. While it’s of course meant to make you laugh and smile (which is extra valuable in year 2020) the message behind the film is an important one.
Having grown up in San Francisco, I first started riding public transit alone at 8 years old. Being exposed to so many people of different races, sexualities, professions, and personalities in such small spaces helped to shape me into the person I am today. And having been raised by a hard-working single mother and never having met my father, I feel to a certain degree that the people of public transit and the city of San Francisco raised me.
Now in the year of COVID, protests, and with tensions continuing to rise, we are becoming more divided and are in danger of losing our sense of community. San Francisco, was once known for the Summer of Love. That has given way in recent years to a more corporate culture and we’ve lost some of our soul and what it means to be San Franciscans. As bad as this year has been, we now have an opportunity to relearn to be human and fix parts of our society that have been broken.
“Metro6” follows Zak, a soulless character who doesn’t know the true sense of community. He’s so absorbed in the technology in front of him that he doesn’t notice the rich community around him. It was never Zak’s intention to take the bus on this fateful day, but the lessons he learns on his 8-minute action-packed bus ride are both unexpected and deeply important. In the face of adversity, Zak and his fellow passengers must learn to look after each other; in the end, Zak comes to understand the true value of community. This message has never been more important as we are struggling to come to terms with new realities; we, too, need to come together as a community while breaking down barriers as we remake this world.
Creating this film, we’ve established our own community. 78 artists collaborated in parallel across 17 different countries.
