Shown at the Esquire Theatre, Oct 2, 2025
The film's title card: umami, INTERFACE, over dark water

The film

Interface

By Justin Tomchuk, 2021.

Written by
Justin Tomchuk and Karolina Szablewska
Year
2021
Made
2017 to 2021, as a web series on YouTube
Country
Canada
Runtime
1 hour 56 minutes
Genre
Animation, horror, science fiction
Watch
The umami store (download, Blu-ray, VHS), or the episodes free on YouTube
From the film.

It's 1943. An experiment goes wrong and breaks something in the world. A silent man in a blue suit, Henryk, comes out of it unable to age. Mischief, a shapeshifting thing born from the same accident, comes out of it too. Together they cross a world where consciousness can be seen, and where a robotics company has built a god called KAMI to put it to work.

It was made as surrealist horror. It plays a lot closer to home now.

How it was made

Interface started in December 2017 as an animated web series on YouTube, on umami, the channel of Justin Tomchuk. He put out 24 episodes over nearly four years, each one about two months of work, and finished in October 2021, when the episodes were cut together into this feature. He directed, animated and edited it, made the music, and wrote it with Karolina Szablewska.

The references

Interface borrows straight from art history. These are the nineteen works it draws on, in the order they show up. Where we could, the original is shown; for a few others, here's how they look in the film.

  1. Satan Descends Upon Earth, 1866. Gustave Doré, for Paradise Lost.
  2. Two Comedians, 1965. Edward Hopper.
  3. Composition 8, 1923. Vasily Kandinsky.Composition 8 by Vasily Kandinsky: circles, lines and triangles in bright colors on a pale ground
  4. Piazza d'Italia, 1913. Giorgio de Chirico.In the film.
  5. Skull with Burning Cigarette, 1885. Vincent van Gogh.Vincent van Gogh's painting of a skeleton's skull with a lit cigarette between its teeth, on a dark ground
  6. Goddess of Liberty, on the Sir George-Étienne Cartier Monument, 1919. George William Hill.
  7. Christina's World, 1948. Andrew Wyeth.
  8. Stańczyk, 1862. Jan Matejko.Jan Matejko's Stańczyk: a jester slumped in a chair in a dim room while a ball goes on in the next
  9. Horse and Train, 1954. Alex Colville.In the film.
  10. Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, 1818. Caspar David Friedrich.Caspar David Friedrich's Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog: a man seen from behind on a rocky peak above a sea of fog
  11. The Creation of Adam, 1508 to 1512. Michelangelo.Michelangelo's Creation of Adam: God reaching toward Adam's outstretched hand
  12. The Son of Man, 1964. René Magritte.In the film.
  13. The Eye, 2010 to 2011. David Altmejd.
  14. Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man, 1943. Salvador Dalí.
  15. Golconda, 1953. René Magritte.In the film.
  16. Sunrise by the Ocean, 1996. Vladimir Kush.
  17. Nighthawks, 1942. Edward Hopper.
  18. One Hour of Imaginary Celebrities. NVIDIA Corporation and Aalto University, under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
  19. The Red Book: Liber Novus, 1913 to 1917. Carl Gustav Jung.

Credits

  • Directed, animated and edited by Justin Tomchuk
  • Written by Justin Tomchuk and Karolina Szablewska
  • Produced by Karolina Szablewska
  • Music by Justin Tomchuk, as HEXSYSTEM
  • Voices: Justin Tomchuk, Christa Elliott, Yoshi Ando, Philip Hersh, Phil Jamesson

The filmmaker

Justin Tomchuk is a media artist in Montreal who works in animation, film, music and painting. He studied at NSCAD University in Halifax. His YouTube channel, umami, started in 2017, and it's where Interface first ran, episode by episode. He makes music as HEXSYSTEM, including the film's soundtrack. He gave us his blessing to show Interface in Cincinnati. More at justintomchuk.com.

Where it's played

  • Ars Electronica, Austria (2019, as Interface Part I)
  • Animaze Montreal (2022)
  • Chattanooga Film Festival (2022)
  • Filmquest (2022)
  • GLAS Animation (2022)
  • Toronto Animation Arts Festival International (2023)
  • Kaboom, Netherlands (2023)
  • L'Étrange Festival, Paris, presented by Flying Lotus (2024)
  • Annecy
  • FAVA Fest, Edmonton (2026)

"It's a very unique voice in the world of animation."

– Flying Lotus, presenting Interface at L'Étrange Festival

Watch it

The episodes are free on umami's YouTube channel, where it started. The feature is sold as a download, Blu-ray and VHS from the umami store. The soundtrack is out as Interface OST Vol. I and Vol. II by HEXSYSTEM on Bandcamp. Buying from him is the best way to say thanks.

We showed it