2013 PCFF Shorts Collection: Kindergarten Edition

Your Shorts are Showin’ (YSAS)

PCFF proudly presents this year’s YSAS programs. We have compiled three age-specific reels of short films. Some of these films were chosen by our jury and others invited by our Director of Programming. We hope you enjoy this wide assortment of shorts!

• Quinn’s New Video Game
  USA, 2012 / Dir. Heather Freeman / 3 min
  The director recorded a conversation with her four-year-old son, who wanted to create a video game. The film takes the viewer through their plans by integrating her son’s drawings with her animated landscapes. Combining ideas that reflect the humorous intersection of a child’s imagination with conventional video game tropes results in a one-of-a-kind film you wish you could make with your own child.
• Papa Cloudy
  USA, 2012 / Dir. Akiko McQuerrey / 5 min
  Papa Cloudy is a working-class cloud with occasional odd jobs. Whether it’s mending broken hearts in his laundry pile, catching lonely hearts with his fishing pole or helping parched cacti in the desert get some needed rain, he is there for them!
• Kitchen Wars
  Taiwan, 2011 / Dir. Mink Lin / 5 min
  A master chef and two young chefs man the kitchen of a restaurant in the forest. The two junior chefs must prove themselves in challenges the master chef designs before advancing to full chef status. But that’s no easy task, as they must fashion dishes not only meeting culinary standards of color, flavor and aroma, but with shapes the master chef specifies.
• The Knitting Girl
  Taiwan, 2012 / Dir. Enson Huang / 6 min
  The knitting girl can turn balls of yarn into all types of surprises. Whenever the girl finds herself in difficulty, she is always able to knit the item she needs. Whether it’s a woolen bird that comforts lonely birds, a woolen sheep to make the shepherd boy that lost his sheep laugh again or a woolen fan to fight against the evil witch’s lightning, the Knitting Girl brings out the courage in young viewers with her super wisdom.
• Flight of the Fantasy
  USA, 2012 / Dir. Anthony Pang / 6 min
  “Flight of the Fantasy” tells a story of a young, playful, imaginative boy with a passion for playing with his toy airplanes in his back yard. Recreating battle sequences in his head, he accomplishes heroic mission after mission. All is well until he is conscripted to confront …. the dastardly green chilies!
• SNAP
  Belgium & UK, 2012 / Dir. Thomas G. Murphy / 7 min
  A sea creature, inspired by his hunger, takes a path of self-empowerment to catch his next meal. Undaunted by the selfish, bullying behavior of his own kind around him, he successfully reaches out to learn from others. The results will leave you tongue-tied!
• Rainy Day Friends
  Taiwan, 2012 / Dir. Jerry Lee / 5 min
  “Rainy Day Friends” tells the story of a little girl who was born into the world on a rainy day but has never seen rain. One morning, realizing her father forgot his work hat, she chases after him and finds herself in a strange and wonderful railroad car full of animals along for the ride.
• Rainy Day Ducks
  USA, 2012 / Dir. Danielle Heitmuller / 3 min
  On a rainy day a young girl comes across a family of hungry ducks lost in the city. She leads them through the streets to guide them around urban threats that make this no place for a duck. In this classic film tale, the characters are puppets and the backgrounds are artfully done with watercolors and pastels.
• Young(ish)
  USA, 2012 / Dir. Renee Felice Smith / 7 min
  Sometimes it takes a film like this one to remind you that EVERYONE was a kid at one time. By all appearances you would think this elderly couple desires nothing more than a good bench to sit on in the park. Little do the kids know they want the playground PIRATE SHIP!!
• Jonah and the Crab
  USA, 2012 / Dir. Laurel Cohen / 9 min
  Mourning the loss of a pet, a young boy named Jonah unexpectedly finds a hermit crab on the beach. This new crustacean friend lifts Jonah’s spirits, and the two become inseparable. A dilemma arises when “LOST: PET CRAB” posters start to appear around the neighborhood. Jonah is torn between keeping his best friend and doing the right thing.
• Moon Cakes
  China & USA, 2012 / Dir. Chang Liu / 13 min
  “Moon Cakes” is a simple story fashioned as a modern-day fairy tale in China about a lonely boy’s attempt to make his dream come true through the delicacies of dessert made only on the moon. After watching this beautifully animated film you will never look at the moon or slingshots in the same way again.