This shorts reel is designed for our youngest audience members and first time festival attendees. Some of the cutest critters can be found here in our sweet one hour program. 

FILMS AND FILM LINE-UP ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

AWAY WE GO – The world is full of beauty, connection, and adventure—if we’re open to exploring it together. This animated musical short brings to life this uplifting message AND sort of makes one want to dance!  (2025 / 3 mins / USA / dir. Chris Purdin / in English)

BUILD – This stop motion animation explores the spirit of creativity AND the fun of marshmallows! It shows viewers what it’s like to build marshmallow-by-marshmallow with curiosity, imagination, and humor. It asks the underlying question: What will you build? (2025 / 6.5 mins / USA / dir. Todd Davis / in English)

DANCING IN THE RAIN – A young girl seeking relief from a hot summer day in Taiwan ends up dreaming about it raining so much that she can swim in the streets. Well if she can swim the streets then of course mice can synchronize swim in tiny pink bathing suits! (2024 / 6.5 mins / Japan, Taiwan / dir. Chao-chun Yeh / no dialogue)

THE DANDELION – The Dandelion is a beautiful animated short film about the circle of life, as experienced by a dandelion, who comes to realize the very forces that gave it life will one day take it away. (2025 / 6 mins / USA / dir. Caitlin-Marie Miner Ong / in English)

FOOOLS – In a faraway land where they only speak the untranslatable language of Circush, adorable clowns Ham and Eex cook up a plan to comfort little Nod when her beloved Fireflies go away. (2025 / 8.5 mins / USA, Canada / dirs. Seo Kim, Steve Manale / In Circusish with no subtitles. Every translation is unique to you!)

FOUND! (Trouvé!) – While watching this beautiful animated film you will smell winter around you. A young girl goes out for a winter’s day walk and encounters a playful animal that entices her  to play hide and seek. When the game is over she returns home to a warm embrace and a great winter memory. (2025 / 5 mins / France / dir. Juliette Baily / non-verbal)

MASTER PAINTER DOTTY – The highly inspired turtle Dotty enthusiastically paints one picture after another. Every time she proudly shows her grandma her latest painting, Grandma just shrugs. This seems strange to Dotty (and any grandchild!) until she discovers what the problem really is. (2024 / 2 mins / Germany / dir. Uli Seis / non-verbal)

THE MAGIC YOU NEED IS WITHIN – “Deep in your heart, a bright light glows, a spark of magic nobody knows. It shines with hope, it sings with might, a story waiting to take flight.” You’re never too young to think about what problems you’d like to solve and what causes you care about. (2025 / 2 mins / USA / dir. Chelsea Li Ean Sik / in English)

THE MOTHERLESS EGG (Das Mutterlose Ei) – A very inattentive chicken unknowingly lays an egg and dances away. Dog and squirrel take it upon themselves to care for the unhatched and are rewarded in the best way. (2025 / 5 mins / Germany, Croatia / dir. Elena Walf / non-verbal)

ONE MORE CUP – As toddler Leona is about to host her very first tea party with her stuffed animals it unexplainably turns into a worldwide spectacle. News stations, helicopters and White House briefings ensue! When she finally gets to sit down for tea everything falls back into perspective. (2025 / 5 mins / USA / dir. Max Wagenblass/ in English)

SKETCHES ON ICE (Esquisses sur glace) – It snowed! Lou and Marius are playing in the street and building a snowman. Mom calls them back home. Marius has to practice his clarinet, and Lou has homework to do. Pffft! As Lou opens her notebook and begins her exercises and Marius plays a few hesitant notes… the snowman has moved?! As the notes keep playing the snowman keeps with the beat. (2025 / 4 mins / France / dir. Marion Auvin / non-verbal)

TATARANG! – In this cut-felt and textile stop motion animation a dog wanders from place to place making friends along the way. (2024 / 5.5 mins / Korea / dir. Manri Kim / non-verbal)

WISHES: WINDOWS & NESTS – One rainy day, when Lulú notices that birds can’t make their nests in the city because of the spikes that line the buildings, she conjures her magical and slightly clumsy, Guardian-creature Kino. Together, they explore solutions in her surreal inner-world. Although things don’t always go as planned, they discover that small acts of kindness can go a long way in changing the world.  (2024 / 7.5 mins / Australia, Colombia / dir. Ana Maria Mendez Salgado / in English and Spanish)