Various · 2025 · PG · 60 min
Animation Is Film is immensely proud to shine a spotlight on some of year’s most extraordinary and innovative shorts across a series of four discrete Short Film Presentations. In SHORTS 1, award-winning storytellers from Cartoon Saloon, Dreamworks Animation, Locksmith Animation, and Walt Disney Animation (some working within the studio, others independently) tackle themes of parenthood, loneliness, and grief, and the essentiality of human (or ursine/porcine) connection – and of love.
Filmmakers Giovanna Ferrari (Eiru), Nathan Engelhardt & Jeremy Spears (Forevergreen), Malcon Pierce (Versa), and Aaron Blaise (Snow Bear) will present their films in-person!
ÉIRU (Ireland / Giovanna Ferrari)
Éiru, the youngest child of a powerful Iron Age Irish clan, seizes a chance to prove herself when her village faces a mysterious crisis, embarking on a perilous adventure beneath the earth. From Cartoon Saloon.
FOREVERGREEN (USA / Nathan Engelhardt, Jeremy Spears)
An orphaned bear cub finds a home with a fatherly evergreen tree, discovering comfort in its branches, before his curiosity — and desire for snacks — leads him into danger.
CARDBOARD (United Kingdom / J.P. Vine)
Worried he’s let his piglets down, a single dad moves them into a trailer park. When his kids turn a box into an intergalactic adventure, he must decide — stay stuck in the past, or join in. From Locksmith Animation in association with DNEG Animation and Ritzy Animation.
VERSA (USA / Malcon Pierce)
Poignant and visually captivating, a young couple navigate the highs and lows of love, loss, and joy, swept along in an ethereal cosmic dance of life. From Walt Disney Animation.
SNOW BEAR (USA / Aaron Blaise)
Hand-drawn over many years and radiating all the delicacy of classic animation, a lonely polar bear, craving connection, brings a companion to life in his frozen world.
WEDNESDAYS WITH GRAMPS (USA / Chris & Justin Copeland)
When a reluctant and plugged-in teen visits his aging Gramps, they both discover they have way more in common than either expected in this wordless and heartfelt exploration of cross-generational connection. From Dreamworks Animation.
