The story of ‘By Blood’ is set in the times of the knights, when justice was made by sword and when the world was ravished by wars, a time when no one was safe. Mort-Lieu, the ruler of one such land, sees how time passes around him and feels like he is entirely capable of protecting his kingdom. One day, a mysterious knight appears, wanting to see Mort-Lieu and even fight with him. But the time isn’t right, and Mort-Lieu knows that his powers are not as they were back in the day; he feels like that knight is in fact death that came to take him. The struggle is real for Mort-Lieu, as it is always for rulers, they are not afraid of a challenge, and they need to face it once and for all.

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Guillaume Enard and Jonathan Delerue’s short perfectly recreates the atmosphere of the old knights’ stories we fell in love with when we were kids. Mort-Lieu is the kind of character you get to love and imagine growing up to be like him: courageous, handsome, fierce, with a shiny armor and respected moral values – Mort-Lieu is the ‘Batman’ of the old times.

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One thing that was really spectacular for us was the ending of this short film – since the narrative is built in a classical way, by all means we were waiting for the foreseeable ending everyone would expect. But no, it was a complete surprise, and truth be told, it was one of the best endings we’ve seen in a short movie this year. Usually, when it comes to knights stories, the ending is almost always the same: the king wins after he fought the war and after his army was scattered... but he wins. Here, there is no winner, but at the same time, there is no loser either. In ‘By Blood’ the real winner is the viewer who gets the chance to see such an impeccable piece of cinematography!

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Written by Vlad A. G