In this stop-motion animation the artist confronts the memory of his younger brother who was killed by an IED in Iraq. The filmmaker reflects on who his brother was, how he identified with him, and works through issues of guilt for not thinking about him as often as he feels that he should. Drawn using pastels on a slate chalkboard, the entire film is shot in two continuous scenes, with the current image drawn directly on top of the previous, leaving the memory of the previous drawings to continue into the present. Much of the footage was borrowed directly from images found on his brother's laptop that was returned to the family after his death. Also on the laptop was an audio file recorded in the active combat area of Najaf, where the young man expresses his feelings about the experience.

We’ve all had it rough, but there’s always somebody worse off. This is the story of one man’s descent into societal oblivion while remaining subtly optimistic, and features music by the Chicago rock band, Oh My God. Portraying the despair of a person who has lost control of his life, the song counterbalances his failures with implications of hope. In an evocative collaboration, the animation and the music are able to express opposing—yet intertwined—points of view.

Pily, a lovable crustacean of mixed origin, builds a rocket ship to escape the pollution endangering his underwater crops and home. This beautifully animated story takes place above and below the waterline of Oregon’s Willamette River. The song Denmark was composed by Gideon Freudmann and features music by the Portland Cello Project that has performed at both the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Green Show and Britt Music Festival.

A quiet old man, surrounded by desolation and apathy, perseveres to remain true to the nature of his own beliefs and character. He toils daily to forge a last ditch effort to bring hope and life to a faithless, drought ridden old town. This stunning stop-motion animation is based on found objects where the filmmakers, like the old man, searched junkyards and junk piles for objects they could use to build sets and create another world. Winner of a 2010 Student Academy Award in the animation category.

In the spirit of 1950’s and 1960’s educational films, this modern social satire playfully demonstrates how pollution is our heritage and keeps our economy growing strong. Starting briefly with the pre-industrial revolution, this animated exposé rapidly comes into our current age and follows an average family through their daily lives. Connecting consumer habits with their corporate allies and the environmental consequences, we are all instructed how to be better polluters for a better blighted tomorrow. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short.

This unique animated film celebrates the artisans of the desert region of Kutch in India. Participants in the Kala Raksha Trust and School for Design use their narrative art of appliqué and embroidery to express their feelings and experiences—from events as traumatic as an earthquake to the joy of flying a kite. [subtitles]

In this intricately and ornately realized stop-motion short, frustrated attempts to bear children overwhelm the lives of an aristocratic, avian couple in the early nineteenth century. Being of considerable age, they are delighted with the miraculous gift of a child. Their lives become unexpectedly complicated when their wish for a baby is fulfilled.

Juried Best Animated Short

In an unknown space in an empty city covered by heavy snow, there is nothing but a revolving door that slowly spins in the Wonder Hospital. A girl enters the mysterious place that alters the way of seeing physical beauty. She is given a choice between the two images of her face, "Before" and "After." Her desire for superficial beauty leads her to chase after the luring "After" images on a path of advertisements throughout the hospital. But in the end she finds something unimaginable and irreversible and realizes that beauty is something very different from what she expected. This surreal journey is animated using 3D computer generated images combined with live action puppets.