Cancer is an enormous subject for any filmmaker to tackle. Matthew Incontri’s Motion Pictures approaches it through the eyes of a young boy, transforming an experience of fear and uncertainty into a deeply personal story about friendship, creativity, and hope.
The nine-minute, dialogue-free 2D animation follows a boy whose cancer gradually takes physical form as a floating eye-like shape. It watches him, grows larger, and becomes increasingly threatening as his condition worsens. The simple drawings resemble the work of a young artist, making the boy’s perspective feel immediate and intimate.
Rather than promising an easy victory, Incontri focuses on how the boy chooses to spend the time he has. Surrounded by his best friends, he discovers an unexpected source of strength. Together, they make a film, turning their creativity into a way of facing something they cannot control.
A Personal Fight
Incontri began Motion Pictures as his senior project at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He originally planned to complete the ambitious ten-minute film within a year. Instead, the project took more than two years to finish.
The subject was deeply personal. In 2013, a close family friend, Maurine Turcotte, died after a battle with cancer. Incontri watched her physical strength diminish while her spirit remained powerful and joyful. He wanted to honor her by approaching the disease in a positive way.
That experience shaped the film’s outlook. “I wanted to shine a positive light on the harsh and brutal experiences we go through in life,” Incontri explains. For him, creative work became a way to transform struggle into something meaningful.
Creating Through the Darkness
Incontri grew up watching Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera cartoons, and animation became one of his earliest ways of communicating. He eventually focused on 2D animation because it allowed him to combine drawing with storytelling.
That passion is especially important in Motion Pictures. The animation never tries to make cancer seem less frightening. Instead, it gives the protagonist a way to process something almost impossible to understand. The result is emotionally raw, but never sentimental.
Most importantly, the film’s final moments don’t depend on a miraculous cure. They celebrate connection, friendship, and the decision to keep creating. In Motion Pictures, imagination becomes more than an escape. It becomes a way forward.
