AWN’s latest survey highlights under-the-radar animated shorts that are currently making their way through the festival circuit—or are newly available for online viewing.
This month, we explore new films that tackle a murderer trying desperately to get caught, a circle striving to become a straight line, air travel, generational connections via Zoom, and – predictably - Hertzfeldtian wieners.Keep an eye out for these intriguing and provocative works at film festivals in 2025.
by John Lustig In this dark comedy, a drug addict commits murder, but despite repeatedly being caught in the act while disposing of the body, no one seems to notice - or care.Even as he drowns in guilt and attempts to come clean, the world around him remains indifferent.The film offers a sharp critique of a society that witnesses wrongdoing daily yet remains disengaged, too absorbed in their phones to react.
While wasn’t explicitly made as a commentary on societal apathy toward corruption and oligarchy, it’s hard not to read it that way.Director Lustig explains: “I listened to hours of true crime podcasts while working on my previous film, and the idea for I Beg Your Pardon germinated from the frustration of hearing about perpetrators who were never caught.It sat in a notebook for years until I was developing an anthology-style web series of 30-second to one-minute pieces, and this script stood out as something that needed to be a full short film.
I never made the series, but it served its purpose by fostering a looser creative approach—one that ultimately led to by Patrick Buhr In my opinion, German animator Patrick Buhr doesn’t get enough love from the festival circuit, despite creating incredibly original works that blur the lines (ha!) between experimental and narrative.In his latest film, he cleverly - and comically - uses a single line over a red backdrop while slyly commenting on society’s often absurd responses to topics like sexuality.Can a single-line animation be offensive? Well, let’s see.
I asked Buhr about the origins of , and he explained: "The film playfully intertwines certain visual analogies in the English language—such as 'straight,' which is typically more associated with 'being' than 'becoming' - with highly abstracted animation that parodies the implications of this phrasing.One could also see it as an animated short version of my film (2022).And hopefully, it’s kind of funny while pushing some technical boundaries of one-line animation." by Kelly Sears Too often, media and social media fixate on the greed and dysfunction of airlines - treating passengers like caged rats while relentlessly charging more for increasingly inhumane experiences.
But in her latest film, Sears goes beyond the usual critique, delivering a haunting exploration of the airline industry’s far-reaching consequences - its damage to the environment, its risks to human lives, and its disruption of the delicate balance between nature and technology.With echoes of Hitchcock’s , she presents a stark warning from the winged world: change is imperative to ensure their survival.Collaboration, she suggests, is not just necessary but inevitable for the future of both humans and birds alike.
“ is an eco-revenge film featuring unlikely instigators who were observed and filmed over three years at airports across the United States,” says Sears.“In my previous film, , Earth is experiencing its final winter. A giant streaming company hires all available camera operators to film the final weeks of this soon-to-be-lost season. I realized that the impact of climate collapse centered on the human experience. I wanted to invite others to share their knowledge of climate peril and imagine inter-species mutual aid.” By Anastazja Naumenko During a Zoom call, a young woman, Nastia, teaches her mother how to use a computer and assorted applications.As they navigate the digital world, the mother recalls personal and family memories, touching on past conflicts and referencing current events, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Blending 2D and 3D elements that reflect the generational divide, this digital collage shifts between the video call, Nastia’s desktop, and her occasional internet distractions.Ultimately, the story unfolds into a touching exploration of intimacy, revealing that - despite technology’s tendency to fragment attention - it holds the power to connect us when we listen, engage, and show genuine interest in others.“The idea for the film came to me while I was giving actual lessons to my mom via Zoom,” says Naumenko.
“I recorded the sessions so she could revisit the material if she forgot something.In the process, I noticed different narratives emerging in these recordings.So, when we finished the lessons, I went through all the material to see if there were maybe some sort of consistent story lines.
Around the same time, I was participating in the School for Poetic Computation classes, where I discovered desktop cinema - a genre that intrigued me, especially given my background in animation.This approach allowed me to reflect the kaleidoscopic and fragmentary nature of the stories in the recordings while also giving me an opportunity to use animation to reimagine default computer functionalities and interactions, making them more surreal and emotional.” by Vinson Chan I don’t think I need to say much beyond sharing the synopsis, which ranks among the greatest I’ve ever encountered: I often lament the lack of truly funny animated films, so this one should satisfy any festival programmers who aren’t uptight.If they don’t select it, well… they’re limp wieners.
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