The World Around Us (PCFF Shorts Collection)

Our world is richly infused with opportunities for discovery and revelation. This shorts reel will get you thinking about expanding your horizons beyond what meets the eye. The stories told here include: a girl made of elastic bands and pins who fearlessly travels the world; a flock of starlings in Denmark that love to murmurate (look it up!), and a village in Mexico that makes some of the best pinatas you will ever see. Smashing them is the hardest part!

Film lineup is subject to change without notice.

The House
It’s never easy leaving an old house you grew up in. It’s even more difficult when the house doesn’t want to leave you!
Czech Republic, 2016 / no dialogue / Veronika Zacharova / 6 min / Animation

Dear Congress
As kids play they share the wisdom learned on many playgrounds and how it should be heeded by all parties in our government.
USA, 2017 / English / Annie O’Neil / 3 min / Live Action

The Child and the Night (El niño y la noche)
A young boy visiting his grandmother intends to repair a marionette in his room. To do so requires traveling to a world he never knew.
Argentina, 2017 / no dialogue / Claudia Ruiz / 12 min / Animated

A Girl Named Elastika
With only push pins, elastics, construction paper and a vivid imagination an adventurer is born!
Canada, 2012 / English / Guillaume Blanchet / 3 min / Animation

Beyond the Books
You’ve heard of the saying “it was the straw that broke the camel’s back”. Little did the librarian know how precarious an ancient library could be!
France, 2016 / English / Jerome Battistelli, Mathilde Cartigny, Nicolas Evain, Maena Paillet, Robin Pelissier, Judith Wahler / 7 min / Animation

Perspective
One day I woke up and I saw everything in perspective…
Argentina, 2017 / English / Fernando Livschitz / 2 min / Live Action-Animation

The Art of Flying
This is a short film about “murmurations”: the mysterious flights of the common starling. It is still unknown how the thousands of birds are able to fly in such dense swarms without colliding.
Netherlands, 2015 / no dialogue / Jan van Ijken / 2 min / Documentary-Experimental

Dandelions
An immortal beast that resides in a field of dandelions is plagued by a curse that causes him to kill anything he touches with his paws.
USA, 2017 / no dialogue / Nicole Hines / 6 min / Animated

Outside
When a lonely little boy finds a strange creature in the woods, he must keep it a secret from his mom or risk losing his only friend.
USA, 2017 / English / Laura Norris / 4 min / Animated

Big Boom
The history of humanity and of our planet in four minutes. An eco-friendly statement developed in a single shot that has it all: humor, action and tragedy.
Russia, 2016 / no dialogue / Marat Narimanov / 4 min / Animated

149th and Grand Concourse
Busy urban streetscapes are the stage for these soloists. Or should I say “sofa-ists”.
USA, 2016 / English / Andy and Carolyn London / 3 min / Live Action-Animated

Threads
The animated short follows a mother and daughter as they make their way through the young girl’s rites of passage: school, friends and late nights out. What happens to the thread that ties them together?
Canada, 2017 / no dialogue  / Torill Kove / 9 min / Animated

The Piñata King
On the outskirts of Mexico City, over 50 years ago, a family began making and selling piñatas to the local community. Their success inspired the entire town.
United Kingdom, 2017 / Spanish w/English subtitles  / Charlie Kwai, Chris Lee & Paul Storrie / 4 min / Documentary

Our Wonderful Nature: The Common Chameleon
This chameleon obviously didn’t listen to his parents when they said “your eyes are bigger than your stomach!”
Germany, 2016 / English / Tomer Eshed / 4 min / Animation