A Short Collection of Animated Shorts

I was browsing through some blogs I had bookmarked a while back. Suffice it to say, I came across a mention of an animated short based on the picture book titled The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore written by William Joyce. Of course I had to look it up on YouTube and after viewing it, had to share it here.

The short, also directed by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenberg, is brilliant and so much more expressive than the written story.

As is typical of me and YouTube, I came across a number of other shorts that I've either re-discovered or am now discovering for the first time.

The next couple of shorts I've come across previously and am happy to have re-discovered.

The first short, Alma, was written and directed by Rodrigo Blaas. It is a beautiful, yet eerie, film about a young girl and a toy store with its collection of dolls.

Paperman by John Kahrs is one of my favorite shorts and is about the chance meeting between a young man and a young woman and the forces that bring them back together.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find a good copy of it on YouTube, but a copy of the short can be accessed by clicking on the image above.

The next two shorts are new to me.

The first short, "Wind Mills," was made and directed by Guillaume Bergère, Guillaume Courdert, Maria Glinyanova, Bruno Guerra, and Charlotte Jammet at the Georges Méliès school as a graduation movie.

It is beautifully made with a hauntingly surreal soundtrack. The minimal dialogue toward the end of the film is roughly translated as "'We have enough wind to go!' 'I'm staying with your mother...leave without us' 'I don't want to go without you!'" (as taken from the comments section of the YouTube video).

This last short is a heart-wrenching one entitled Emi, written by Gwendoline Ancelin, that tells the story of a young girl, her father, and a momentous decision.

The last screen before the credits reads: "The greatest gift that we can give, is the gift of self..."