Category: 2D Animation Spotlight (Page 1 of 219)

Synopsis: For months now, a group of five young soldiers have been stuck, bored, on a mission in the middle of the Afghan mountains. One day, during a support mission, the routine is finally broken.

Written and directed by Lucas Durkheim.

Director’s note: The film is inspired by the Uzbin attack. French International Security Assistance Force troops were ambushed by Afghan Taliban insurgents, with heavy casualties, in the Uzbin Valley in the Surobi District of Kabul on August 18, 2008.

With this short, I wanted to illustrate the main element in soldiers’ lives: waiting and being bored. It’s a job, of course — they are trained to kill. Perhaps not this time, but none of them is prepared to face death.

Intended for mature audiences.

Click here to watch the short film on YouTube, as it’s age-restricted.

Synopsis: Alice lives at her parents’ place at the age of 27 with no private life or a relationship. Her birthday night out ends in a bicycle accident and a short coma, making her realize it’s time to move out.

Written and directed by Flóra Anna Buda.

27 screened at festivals worldwide and won numerous awards, including Best Short at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival (2023) and a Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival (2023).

Intended for mature audiences.

Click here to watch the short film on Vimeo, as we’re currently unable to embed the video.

Synopsis: The process of being encroached by the persona — a mask you wear in public, to protect yourself, that progressively substitutes your real personality.

A short film by Moon Sujin.

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: 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.

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: 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.