“There are multitudes of Unseen,” he said.

“Unseen?”

“The ones not seen.”

“I see,” I said.

“In the movie.”

“They’re in the movie?”

“They’re unseen in the movie.”

“So then they’re not in the movie?”

“They’re in it. But the camera is facing away from them. As it is for most of us.”

“So it’s more or less a conceptual notion.”

“No. The puppets have been built. With as much care as the seen puppets. They have been posed movement by movement, just as have the seen puppets. They have lived their lives. But have not been witnessed by the camera. Only by me.”

“You animated them but didn’t film it.”

“It sextupled my workload. Had I not, I could have made the film in fifteen years. It was a necessary sacrifice.”

“But why?”

“Because the Unseen live, too. Because if I don’t see them live, who will?”

“But why not film them and allow them to be seen by the world?”

“Because they aren’t seen. And were one to see the Unseen, they would no longer be the Unseen.”