

Ferri Caicedo’s ‘Wind Whisperer’ Is A Hauntingly Poetic Ode To Life’s Impermanence
Born from grief and a deep-seated fear of death, Ferri Caicedo’s graduation film Wind Whisperer (Testigo del Viento) is a hauntingly poetic ode to the ephemeral whispers of life, symbolized by the fleeting song of the cicada.
Created with handmade textiles, the film explores an acceptance — or at least a deeper understanding — of life’s transformative and fragile beauty. The use of felt and assorted objects enhances the work’s vibrancy and delicacy, mirroring its thematic journey from fear to quiet acceptance of life’s impermanence.
She spent three years working on this handmade project. Says Caicedo:
Using textiles is part of the tribute, because my two Piedades and my mother taught me to sew, to mend clothes that were damaged, to repair with threads. So working with textiles was for me a way to be close to my family. In this way textiles are both a personal value and a family legacy as well as a universal symbol because threads naturally have the effect of connecting, of repairing, of creating nets that support, weaves that shelter. I used mostly needle felting and old fabrics. I really like the warm feeling that felt evokes and how versatile it is to create shapes and subtle movements that resemble the organic movements of nature. I used the methods of replacement and also transformation through touch.
Caicedo studied photography in Quito, Ecuador, focusing on archetypes, legends, and the Andean collective imagination. In 2016, she moved to Germany to study multimedia art at Bauhaus University. Her work explores personal myths and collective transcendence through concept, light, movement, and sound, with a passion for stop-motion animation.
Wind Whisperer won the Multimedia Art Award of the Bauhaus University Weimar for best graduation project of the faculty. It had its world premiere at the Montreal Stop Motion Film Festival in September 2022 and has since been showcased at renowned film festivals worldwide, including Animafest Zagreb, Hiroshima Animation Season, Tampere, ITFS Stuttgart, Stoptrick, and VAF Viborg. The film has received 10 awards, including the DEFA Promotion Award at the Dresden International Film Festival and best animated short film at the Kurzsuechtig Film Festival in Leipzig.
Wind Whisperer was produced at Bauhaus University Weimar.