Heads up Adult Swim fans. Asphalt Watches, a bizarre Flash animated feature that follows artists Shayne Ehman and Seth Scriver as they hitchhike their way from a 7-Eleven in Chilliwack, B.C. to downtown Toronto, is headed to Cinematheque for a five-night run, Feb. 21 to 23, Feb. 26 and Feb. 27.

The film, which won Best Canadian First Feature at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, is based on true events and is set in the early 2000s. Although the actual trip happened over a decade ago, Ehman says that hitchhiking wasn’t a new experience for himself or his partner at the time.

“[The trip] was pretty spontaneous, but it was also habitual,” Ehman says.

The decision to make an animated feature out of this particular trip was based more on the unexpected events that took place along the way.

“I think it was worth telling the story… It was almost like dying and meeting mythological creatures,” he says.

Ehman and Scriver have their own mythological appeal in the film, appearing as alter egos Bucktooth Cloud and Skeleton Hat, respectively. The avatars, much like the rest of the film, occurred to the animators organically over time.

“The Bucktooth Cloud guy, that’s me,” Ehman says. “He just sort of evolved after doing graffiti on top of different blob forms, you know, like when you spill your coffee or something.”

Though the intention was always to draw on their shared experience and create something out of it, the medium wasn’t always going to be film.

“Originally we were going to make a zine,” Scriver says. “We never really finished, but we started working on the animation about six or seven years later. It’s funny because work that we started even 13 years ago is in the film.”

Because they aren’t in the same city all the time, the pair hasn’t rushed the process.

“We only ever worked on it when we were in the same room,” Scriver says.

Asphalt Watches starts from a very abstract, surreal place, but the plot gains momentum and structure as it goes. While the pair says they admire less traditional methods of storytelling, they weren’t working with any particular style in mind.

“It was never a choice so much as a natural expression… It changed as we worked, we changed as we worked,” Ehman says. “I compare [making the feature] to a filmmaker that decides they only want to work with natural light. Waiting [between sessions] is a lot like waiting for that natural light.”

Ehman and Scriver will be in town to introduce the film’s Winnipeg premiere, and are currently looking for fun things to do in the ‘Peg, so be sure to chat them up after the show.

“Make sure you watch it until the end,” Scriver says with a laugh. “The end is the only really awesome part.”

Adds Ehman, “No, no. It’s all good.”

Published in Volume 68, Number 21 of The Uniter (February 19, 2014)