Synopsis: A Vietnamese single mother in America must confront her past and cultural identity when her father’s visit stirs old memories with a traditional meal.
Directed by Mai Vu, winner of the Lights on Women Award at the Cannes Film Festival (2022).
Synopsis: Karen Lips is a researcher who lived for several years in a tiny little shack in Costa Rica to observe frogs. When she left the cloud forest for a short time and returned, the frogs were gone. All of them.
Karen set out to find them and encountered a horrible truth. Mysterious deaths occur all over the planet and have a similar pattern. Why have so many species vanished? And what does it all have to do with us?
Directed by Volker Schlecht. Written by Max Moench and Alexander Lahl.
The Waiting had its world premiere at the prestigious Berlinale Shorts Competition (2023). It won numerous awards, including Best Documentary Short Film at the Hamptons Film Festival and a Grand Jury Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival.
Synopsis: Anna lives in a perfect house at the edge of a tornado. When she needs to go outside, she is forced to face the chaos of life that she usually hides away from.
The Tornado Outside was nominated for a BAFTA Student Film Award.
Directed by Maria Tomazou.
Written by Marius Scholtz.
Cinematography by Nina Oyens.
Production design by Gili Ofri.
Edited by Jack Cotter.
Produced by Solomon Golding.
Synopsis: In a run-down neighborhood, Zoe and her little brother Theo are left to fend for themselves.
A young adolescent, Zoe is a ball of anger haunted by an intimate terror. Theo, still a child, flees reality into a fantastical world.
During a scorching summer day, the two children will have to burst the abscess of their relationship so as not to lose each other.
Written and directed by Alexandra Myotte and Jean-Sébastien Hamel.
A Crab in the Pool has earned numerous awards, including Best Animated Short at Raindance Film Festival and Best Canadian Animation at Ottawa International Animation Festival.
Synopsis: Based on the director’s father’s short animation from 1980 and loosely inspired by the director’s own childhood, Sierra takes us into a surreal car racing world.
Parents often push their children to follow their steps. In this case, the father’s obsession with rally turns the kid into a car tire.
Sierra was the first Estonian animation to be shortlisted for an Oscar. It screened at over 200 film festivals and received 52 awards.
Written and directed by Sander Joon, an Estonian filmmaker who specializes in absurdist storytelling.
In recognition of his contributions to Estonian culture and his international success, Joon received the Young Cultural Figure award from the Estonian president in 2023.
Watch: Walky Talky Hawky.
Synopsis: Young Henery Hawk’s father regretfully admits their family’s shame: they hunt and eat chickens. Henery sets off to find one, and comes across Foghorn Leghorn, where the loudmouth rooster is engaged in his favorite pastime, playing tricks on a grumpy dog.
Directed by Robert McKimson, written by Warren Foster and starring Mel Blanc, Walky Talky Hawky marks the first appearance of both Foghorn Leghorn and the Barnyard Dawg.
Synopsis: Tom and Jerry have a squabble under the Christmas tree, until the holiday spirit catches up with them.
The Night Before Christmas was nominated for the 1941 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons, but lost to the Mickey Mouse short film Lend a Paw, making it the only Tom and Jerry cartoon to lose to a Disney film.
Directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
Produced by Fred Quimby.
Animated by Jack Zander, George Gordon, Irven Spence and Bill Littlejohn.
Synopsis: A mortally wounded Astronaut awakens in the upper atmosphere after a catastrophic event. He struggles to remember how he got there and latches himself on to the only familiar thing to him — his own severed arm.
Written and directed by Joe Loftus.
Starring Andrew Dickson as the Astronaut and Feena Glynn as the Disembodied Voice.
Sweet Like Lemons is a visual reflection on getting out of a harmful relationship and moving on — closing a chapter without first getting closure.
Written and directed by Jenny Jokela.
Music by Sarah Playford.
Sound design by Adam Woodhams.
Additional writing by Celia Hillo.
Synopsis: To prove himself to his gangster father, Alessandro decides to rob a local bar. What he doesn’t expect is to encounter a surprising side of his father’s world: Lady Victoria the drag queen.
Written and directed by:
João Buosi
Yangjia Chen
Adam Meziane Philipps
Carla Sampaio da Silva
Xinxin Qin
Zhen Zhou
Music by Alexandre Treille. Sound by Mathieu Tiger.
Follow Dare to Be Fabulous on Instagram.
Synopsis: Mother and Father lay the child in his cot at the same time every night. However, come morning, only a shallow crater remains; a baby-shaped depression. The boy was destined to be a wanderer.
A short film by Stephen Irwin.
World to Roam was longlisted for a BAFTA, won the Audience Award at Vienna Shorts, Best International Short at Animatricks, received a Special Distinction Prize at BIAF, the Eadweard Muybridge prize at KIFF and a special mention at LIAF.
Written and directed by Jeanette Jeanenne, a Panamanian-American filmmaker based in Los Angeles and a graduate of CalArts.
Music and sound by Robert Allaire. Backgrounds by Josh Shaffner. Animation by Kevin Eskew, Kyle Brooks and Jeanette Jeanenne. Produced for FX Networks.
Synopsis: Hélène, 40 years old, comes to visit her aging mother in the french countryside. But her mother isn’t being her usual self. She seems to have formed a strange bond with the plants, insects, and the old oak tree at the end of her garden…
Written and directed by:
Sofiia Chuikovska
Loïck du Plessis d’Argentré
Lina Han
Simin He
Jiaxin Huang
Maud Le Bras
Bingqing Shu
Sound and music by Jérémy Ben Ammar.
Follow The Shyness of Trees on Instagram.
Synopsis: Mr. Everest is dead and trapped in the paperwork process before entering heaven. After the long journey, he accepts that heaven is very different from what he expected.
Written and directed by:
Nahee Jang
Ximing Li
Ying Wan
Hao Wang
Music by Arthur Dairaine. Sound by Mathieu Tiger and Jean-Baptiste Sainte Pol.
Follow Uncertified Document on Instagram.
Synopsis: New hires Robert and Phil must serve customers until one of them dies to see who can get hired at minimum wage.
Created and written by Mike Manor, an animator/director based in Los Angeles known for his viral pixel art aesthetic and voice acting.
Voice cast: Chris Fleming, Rachel Kaly, Mandal, Derek Simpson and Mike Manor.
Music and sound by Derek Simpson.
© 2007-2025 The Animation Blog
Design by Anders Noren — Up ↑