The Animator’s Playground

Dir. Various | Brazil, Canada, China, Spain, Taiwan, U.S.

Run Time 10 shorts | 51 minutes

In this family-friendly program, a variety of animated stories and narratives interweave in 10 imaginative pieces. Crafted by hand, on a computer, or a combination of every form, these films push the limits of the animated medium, creating stories that tug at the heartstrings, evoke laughter, and inject nostalgia for a time long past.

This program is family-friendly, but I’ll Come Back for You does include references to violence and grief.

Films

A young woman stands in front of the large statue of a spiritual figure surrounded by light and shades of orange.

Afterlife

Yimeng Wang
New York & China | age 22

AfterLife is a meditative animated short that explores the quiet spaces within a restless mind. Overwhelmed by the fast pace of city life, a young soul steps away, flees into a quiet inner world, and finds herself reconnected to nature’s gentle rhythms.

In digital animation, a mailwoman and dog meet for the first time, and the mailwoman stands fearfully at a distance from the dog.

Return to Sender

Seth Salkin-Weiss
Chicago, IL | age 22

Marge the Mailwoman has a terrible fear of dogs. On one of her mail delivery runs, she encounters an attention-seeking puppy who won’t stop pursuing the mailwoman, no matter how much she runs away, but perhaps her new companion can give her the push she needs to overcome her fears.

With digital animation, a young woman stands in a forest during the fall where she is surrounded by fallen leaves.

Pretty When the Wind Blows

Shan Ismail
Skokie, IL | age 19

A girl visits an old swing-set in hopes of reliving past memories.

A young man in sunglasses sits with a bird on his shoulder.

The Laptop

Ilan Orlina
Burbank, CA | age 15

A grumpy teen discovers a powerful laptop that can do and create anything. He almost destroys the world, but then realizes his mistake.

LIGHTS

Aitana Cantero Velasco & María Isabel Sáiz Romero
Spain | age 22

When night falls, the city lights up thanks to the great machine taken care of by the inventor. But he’s not alone. Small creatures live in the lightbulbs of the tower and see the inventor’s struggle as the machine deteriorates, so they decide to help him. But, how easy will it be to help someone who doesn’t want that help?

In hand-drawn and cut out paper style animation, various birds and trees interact.

Chirp Talker

Audrey He-Qing Cheng
Taiwan | age 10

On her city balcony, Audrey delights in the flutter of tiny birds, inspiring her to invent a bird-language translator that unlocks their secret conversations.

Two boys, one green and one pink, in a split screen, stare at each other intensely.

Tie!

Oscar Martinez
Canada | age 20

Close friends, Dontae and Aubrey, work diligently on their homework while sharing a pack of gummy worms. When they both reach for the last piece, their competitive natures clash and a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors ensues.

A group of stuffed animals, an alligator, a dog, and a bear, hug the human boy they protect in front of a colorful background.

Dream Defenders

Nicole Nowel
Streamwood, IL | age 22

A trio of scrappy yet lovable plushies, known as the Dream Defenders, must fight off nightmares and save their frightened kid, Sammy. Tonight, their kid dreams of a terrifying circus.

A computer sits in the background as the various windows are in the foreground; in one of the browser windows, a young Indian woman points at an object falling.

Our Pockets Are Full

Anjali Pulim
New York, NY | age 22

An animated documentary traveling through the memories of a childhood toy, the watch of a loved one, and a bottle of hot sauce from a lifetime ago.

Two young Black Brazillians boys sit on steps talking with each other.

I'll Come Back for You

Roger Bravo
Brazil | age 22

In São Paulo’s East Side, Murilo, a shy and insecure kid, seeks to discover what he wants to be when he grows up. With his best friend Luquinhas and BO, a cooler and older artist, he finds in graffiti a way to transform the reality around him. But as life’s pressures and traumas threaten his passion for art, Murilo begins to reflect on the costs of growing up through an animated diary about his memories, friendships, and the Brazilian hip-hop scene.

Content Consideration

References to violence and grief

The Animator’s Playground