Caught between waking life and dreams, Olly delves into his childhood memories, navigating the fantastical dream worlds his sister created to shield them from family strife. A journey into the buried past that shapes who we are.
Caught between waking life and dreams, Olly delves into his childhood memories, navigating the fantastical dream worlds his sister created to shield them from family strife. A journey into the buried past that shapes who we are.
Directed by: Leo Metcalf
Olly sifts through his memories searching to understand why he is the way he is. The narrative swings two contrasting worlds: Olly’s memories of his first years, captured by his childhood drawings, and surreal underwater live-action scenes representing his dreams.
We witness fragmented memories of a torn family—an abusive father, a mother whose memory seems faded, and a sister, Sally, encouraging her little brother to escape through imagination and dreams. As memory and fantasy blur, The Time Before becomes a meditation on the stories we tell ourselves to survive, and what is lost in the telling.
Leo Metcalf is a filmmaker and VR artist. Before working in film, he spent a decade producing radio programs on health, education, and the environment in Madagascar and Afghanistan. In 2017, he directed the award-winning experimental documentary DisAstro, which premiered at Jihlava IDFF and screened at the Whitechapel Gallery.
After earning a Master’s in Animation at the Royal College of Art, he released the 360° film The Everything Move (Aesthetica, 2020). The Time Before (2025), which won Best Narrative at Raindance Immersive, and is at the Venice Immersive Biennale Cinema 2025, is his most ambitious and personal work to date. Leo teaches animation at Bath Spa University.
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