Films for 2019
This documentary looks at the humanitarian crisis in Europe from the perspective of Álvaro, a Spanish volunteer who spends 12 days working at Idomeni, one of the refugee camps in northern Greece. Won Best Documentary Short at the 2017 Reel Shorts Film Festival.
Pierre arrives at his mother’s house for Easter. She has made stew, his sister is hungover, and his brother is late. Pierre has to break the news to them that Dad is getting married.
This animated documentary is a joyful portrait of Calgary-born identical twins Tegan and Sara Quin. Their musical career over the past 20 years has often intersected with notions of identity – as artists, as individuals, as sisters, as queer women, and as leading activists in the LGBTQ community
In late August 2018, a team of 30 people from around the world came together in Senja, Norway to break the world record in Highlining (walking on a thin flat rope using only your arms for balance). The record breaking line was 3,000 meters long.
On the eve of humanity’s first time jump, Lauren and Jack risk everything to make history. Nominated for 6 Rosie Awards.
A dog lives happily with his master, a shepherd who shears wool to make clouds from which the rain falls. But one day, the shepherd doesn’t leave his bed, the clouds don’t form, and it doesn’t rain. Drought comes to the valley and the dog must find a way to bring back the rain.
A friendship develops between two children, one in 1918, the other in 2018, who discover that they can magically communicate across time through messages in a bottle. Won Youth Audience Choice at the 2019 Reel Shorts Film Festival.
Dealing with what comes naturally isn’t easy, especially for animals. In this latest animated short from the Oscar-winning team of Alison Snowden and David Fine (Bob’s Birthday), five animals meet regularly to discuss their inner angst in a group therapy session led by Dr. Clement, a canine psychotherapist. Nominated for an Academy Award in 2019…
A flash of lightning turns a science lab potato clock into a mutated monster potato clock that wanders around the school until it discovers the lunch lady chopping potatoes and sets out to save them.
A Chinese mom suffering from empty nest syndrome gets another chance at motherhood when one of her dumplings springs to life as a lively, giggly dumpling boy. Mom excitedly welcomes this new bundle of joy into her life, but Dumpling starts growing up fast. The ups and downs of the parent-child relationship are experienced through…
Eloise, who has been single for a while now, is full of excitement while getting ready for her first date. The sun is shining, the city of Paris is full of life and the world is her oyster…
A fearless young girl tries diving while a talented diver keeps stealing the spotlight. Won the Grphon Award 6+ at the 2018 Giffoni Film Festival among other awards.
In a timely look at hate and racism, Ohio tattoo artist Billy Joe White challenges his community to bring him their mistakes in this inspiring documentary that reveals stories of change and redemption. Won Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2018 Palm Springs ShortFest among other awards.
Who is Biker Bob? And why does a bottle full of his ashes keep washing up on the beaches of Vancouver Island?
A chipped teapot fears that it will never be purchased from a second-hand shop since it is only picked up when its flaw is hidden and then returned to the shelf once the flaw is discovered. Will it ever be useful again?
A young woman works for her father in his butcher shop while studying for her beauty therapy diploma. Her exam is in three days and she must find a hairy model who she can demonstrate her skills on in order to pass the test.
When a little bird suddenly drops dead in its cage, all eyes are on the cat. Desperately, he tries to make everything right again, but nothing he does seems to work. Won Best International Short Animation at the 2018 Huesca International Film Festival in Spain among other awards.
Created by the Cowabunga! team for the Frantic48.
An old man in a care home has few visitors because of his deafness. When a trainee care worker stops by to visit, they discover a way to communicate while playing a board game.
Two ten-year-old boys are detained by police under suspicion of abducting and murdering a toddler. A true story based on interview transcripts and records from the James Bulger case which shocked the world in 1993. Nominated for an Academy Award in 2019 for Best Live Action Short.
Diddl and Diddlina are zapping through TV shows on a stormy day. Diddl wants to watch a scary show. Diddlina wants to watch a love story. Who will end up with control of the remote?
On the day of a young girl’s heart transplant, her transplant cooler gets lost in transit and must make it back to her before time runs out.
A man in a time loop must work with his brother to prevent a catastrophic fire. Won Best Screenplay (Short Film) at the 2018 Fantasia Film Festival.
Set in a surface mine, two boys sink into a seemingly innocent power game with Mother Nature as the sole observer. Nominated for an Academy Award in 2018 for Best Live Action Short.
A fisherman and his dog hunt down a powerful creature that does not belong in Falcon Lake. Won Best Horror at the 2018 Phoenix Film Festival among other awards. Won Best Horror at the 2018 Phoenix Film Festival among other awards.
A financially struggling couple agrees to take part in a mysterious experiment that involves being locked in a room together for one month. Meals are provided through a dispenser. It seems like an easy way to make some money… Won Best Horror/Suspense at the 2018 Edmonton Short Film Festival. Won Best Horror/Suspense at the 2018…
An astronaut awakes on an ISS space module after an accident. He’s unable to establish communication with base command. His fear of floating alone in space forever is interrupted when someone knocks on the door asking to come in.
A macho toy arcade prize is quick to judge a young girl who wants to win him, and goes on a life-changing journey in an attempt to stop her from winning enough tickets to take him home. Won Award of Excellence for Best Animation at the 2018 IndieFEST among other awards. Won Award of Excellence…
Created by the Eagle Vision team for the Frantic48.
Giltrude was 11 when her parents left home for the day, and she has been an interdimensional shut-in for fifteen years waiting for their return. When an injured boy shows up on her doorstep, she must choose between being safe and alone, or risking everything to help a new friend. Won Audience Award for Best…
Caroline arrives with her young daughter on the day of her grandmother’s funeral to find that her mother is refusing to go ahead with it. How can she get her mother to accept that Grams is gone when their own relationship is so distant?
Created by The Procrasty Nation team for the Frantic48.
Two employees endure another late night. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it. Two employees endure another late night. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.
A YouTube creator records herself as she explores an island. The fun of creating her next YouTube video is interrupted when a mysterious drone appears and won’t stop following her.
At the start of the 20th Century, an obsessed inventor brings an 11-year-old boy to his tiny island with steep cliffs where he will train the boy to achieve his life’s ambition – to fly. Won the 2019 Magritte Award for Best Short Film. Won the 2019 Magritte Award for Best Short Film.
In the early 1950s, Hugh Kroetsch worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company as a fur trader and filmed his adventures. Decades later, his filmmaker son Frederick Kroetsch discovered the footage in his parents’ basement. They decide to return to the same remote communities in the Western Arctic to show it, and to make a documentary…
An elderly woman drifts through her memories, reliving moments in her life. She exists between two states, the past and the present, but struggles to connect them. Nominated for an Academy Award in 2019 for Best Animated Short.
Knut-Ronny and Børje are carefree, living life one day at the time, but when Knut-Ronny receives a letter from the Library of God stating his life isn’t important enough to be included in the Holy Collection, he has to prove his worth, and their friendship is put to the test.
When a young woman accidentally drops her keys while crossing the street, Sean picks them up and calls after her, but she has headphones on and doesn’t hear him. Sean returns them to her and decides that this chance encounter might become a friendship, if only she’d take her headphones off so they could have…
A grieving father struggling to accept the death of his teenage daughter comes face to face with her living doppelganger. Won Best Short Film at the 2018 Be Epic! London International Film Festival among other awards.
A single mother receives a call from her seven-year-old son who is on vacation with his father in the French Basque Country. At first the call is a cause for joy, but soon it becomes a horrible nightmare when the child tells her that he is alone and cannot find his father who left a…
An aging woman and her nurse develop a friendship that inspires her to unearth unacknowledged longing and thus help her make peace with her past. Nominated for an Academy Award in 2019 for Best Live Action Short.
A young woman experiences a surreal journey as she comes to terms with her cancer diagnosis while the people in her life flash before her with an onslaught of opinions.
When an embalmer is called to a country home, he meets the daughter of the deceased, a very strange girl who’d rather help with the preparations than grieve the passing of her father.
Still hurting from having been dumped by her girlfriend, a young woman realizes that her ex wasn’t actually a person, but was in fact a shovel.
From its creation in the remote island caves of the Philippines to its transformation into the legendary Cantonese dish of Bird’s Nest Soup at a 3 Michelin star restaurant, this rare exotic delicacy is one of the world’s most expensive foods, costing upwards of $100 in some of China’s top restaurants. This documentary examines this…
A young boy feels lonely at his new school and develops an obsession to buy a fancy augmented reality toy that the other kids are playing with together.
In Copenhagen in the late 1990s, the lead singer of a cover band calls in sick. The band’s two insecure backup singers start backstabbing each other for the chance to be lead singer that night. Won Best Foreign Film at the 2017 Gallup Film Festival.
A ten-year-old girl wonders why her dad is sick and her uncle is not allowed to visit. Perhaps her mother has the answers. A ten-year-old girl wonders why her dad is sick and her uncle is not allowed to visit. Perhaps her mother has the answers.
A young girl dreams of becoming an astronaut. From the day she witnesses a rocket launching into space on TV, she is inspired to reach for the stars with the support of her humble father. Won Best Short Film at the 2018 Hamptons International Film Festival among other awards.
A young girl dreams of becoming an astronaut. From the day she witnesses a rocket launching into space on TV, she is inspired to reach for the stars with the support of her humble father. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Animation among other awards.
Ilana believes herself to be a liberal Israeli woman until she arrives for her monthly treatment at the eye clinic to find that her regular doctor’s replacement is Arab. Faced with the very real possibility of losing her eyesight, she will have to open her eyes to more than she expected.
In a remote town where gypsies come and go, Roberta receives a call about her husband’s sudden death. She becomes consumed with the uncertainty of her fate and decides to do something about it.
When a robot and her robot dog discover a whale stranded on the beach, the robot must overcome her fear of water to try to save it.
Bored while stopped at a red light, a boy and a girl in separate cars start playing Rock Paper Scissors. Realizing their new friendship will end as soon as the light turns green, they try everything possible to exchange phone numbers before it does.
Seeing the swallows return on the same day each year, a small mouse decides to make his dream of flying with them come true. He has one year to figure out how to do it.
In a small supermarket in a blue collar town, a black man smiles at a 10-year-old white boy across the checkout aisle. This innocuous moment sends two gangs into a ruthless war that ends with a shocking backlash. Nominated for an Academy Award in 2019 for Best Live Action Short.
A fifteen-year-old boy tries to become friends with an older boy in his neighborhood, but it’s not the older boy he wants to get to know.
Souad realizes how lucky she is to be hired at a classy beauty salon right after passing her beautician diploma, especially with a young son to support, but there is a problem with the name tag she’s expected to wear. Should she risk her job by saying something? Won Best Live Action 15+ Minutes at…
A district nurse is assigned a new patient living alone in a dilapidated bungalow. The nurse soon discovers that her dying patient, and the home she inhabits, are hiding a dark secret. Won the Mora Award for Best Mini-Short Film at the 2018 Terror in the Bay Film Festival. Won the Audience Choice Award and…
A woman attempts to return a cabinet she purchased. The clerk is more concerned with her lack of a receipt than with the bizarre reason she wishes to return it.
A community for retired entertainers in Vancouver is shocked to learn of the death of a beloved jazz singer who was a resident of their building. Won Best Documentary Short at the 2019 Reel Shorts Film Festival.
Driving in the rain on a dark and lonely road, Mario brakes suddenly to avoid running over a woman who is disoriented and covered in blood. She doesn’t remember where she’s been or what happened to her. He takes her to the nearest place to call the police and get help. It’s a quiet bar…
Set in Argentina in 1960, this true crime documentary follows the story of secret agent Zvi Aharoni as he hunts down one of the highest ranking Nazi war criminals on the run. Won Best Animated Short at the 2018 Cleveland International Film Festival and Best Documentary Short as well as Audience Award Best Short Film…
Locked up for decades in a maximum security prison, an old man tries to revive his glory days as a magician, putting into practice a perfect – but also very dangerous – escape plan.
After a chance encounter with a worm in her apple, a girl puts it on the spinning wheel to keep it safe. She is amazed when the worm starts spinning the cotton with a magic dance and takes it home to show her father.
Pig enjoys his quiet, orderly life at the top of a hill until Duck becomes his new neighbour. Does this mean war, or the start of an unlikely friendship?
While others ignore the young girl who spends her lunch time digging for pebbles in the school sandpit, Alex sees her differently. Won Recognition Award for Outstanding Storytelling at the 2018 Adelaide International Youth Film Festival.
Finding a specific book in a library can be difficult, especially if one begins to suspect that it’s hiding.
Created by the Studio G team for the Frantic48.
An unassuming middle-aged accountant learns he has only weeks to live. Rather than tell everyone, Martin is determined to learn the three pages of a Bach adagio for piano he’d abandoned as a child. Won Audience Award at the 2018 Palm Springs International ShortFest among other awards.
With a sparrow as her guide, a toddler makes her first steps along a tightrope. As she grows up, her feet float above the tightrope when she’s happy. In times of darkness, she falters and almost falls, but Sparrow stays with her as the tightrope she walks seems to go on forever … Won Best…
With a sparrow as her guide, a toddler makes her first steps along a tightrope. As she grows up, her feet float above the tightrope when she’s happy. In times of darkness, she falters and almost falls, but Sparrow stays with her, as the tightrope she walks on seems to go on forever. Won Best…
Two adventurous lemurs navigate their dirigibles halfway around the world to a place where a storm threatens to disrupt their reunion. Won Best Short Film at the 2019 Montreal International Children’s Film Festival among other awards.
A young French woman agrees to act as an interpreter for her mother during a routine medical check-up, but soon realizes this appointment is not at all what she expected. Won the Grand Jury Award at the 2018 Porto Femme International Film Festival in Portugal among other awards.
This story of a young boy shuffling between the homes of his recently divorced parents has surreal dream-like moments mixed with the domestic realities of a broken-up family. Trevor Jimenez, a story artist at Pixar who grew up in Canada, wrote and directed this hand-animated film set in 1980’s Toronto. It was produced through Pixar’s…
The life of a pampered gentleman is seamlessly automated by machines, but his orderly existence is thrown into chaos when he chooses to pursue a free-spirited woman against the advice of his robot butler. Won the 2018 BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Animation among other awards. Won the 2018 BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Animation…
A pirate and his lovable monkey discover a treasure chest that will grant any wish … but only if the monkey makes the wish. How can the pirate get the monkey to wish for gold instead of bananas? Won Best Animation Film at the 2017 Breckenridge Festival of Film among other awards.