The animation and paper props comprising “Long ago, far away” are based on 3 photographs taken by Alter Kacyzne in 1920′s Poland. The tension between the short film and the actual props can be traced to the very nature and usages of the miniature mock-up. While it evokes an array of narratives (children play, film and theater), it also functions as visual reconstitution of facts (historical, demographical, and geographical). The animation arises from the impulse to expand the moment captured by the camera, by the desire to walk around the pictorial plane and delve into its intricate details, thus moving away from the fact and closer to the story. However, the actual props, when removed from the filmmaking device, reveal the frailty and omissions of our narrative (re)construction. While Kacyzne’s photographs are precious documents they also resonate with a fairy-tale-like quality, taken “long ago”, “in a land far, far away…”