ANIMATION
SHORTLIST

Repeater
USA / Animation / 6 minutes
Director/Writer: Ian Bradley
‘Repeater’ is the story of a world in which creatures speak in symbols and can turn those symbols into realities. A ruling class of Sayers forces Repeaters to only speak in squares, creating endless cubes with which the Sayers can build their towers. One Repeater, banished from their tower for creating a forbidden anomaly, wanders the wastelands and discovers a band of misfit rebels in the midst of a wild ceremonial ritual. Joining them, they discover the true potential of these forbidden forms to change their world.

Saloon
USA / Animation / 16 minutes
Director/Writer: Jeffrey Wisniewski
Producer: Jeffrey Wisniewski
Cast: Kevin Dorman
In a dystopian universe populated with both harsh truths and contradictions, a grieving, directionless all-American cowboy maladaptively self-destructs, harming everything and everyone in his wake.

Spring Roll Dream
United Kingdom / Animation / 9 minutes
Director: Mai T P Vu
Writer: Chloe White
Producer: Thijme Grol
Cast: Binh Bai Bui, Elyse Dinh
When Linh's father visits her in America and insists on cooking a traditional Vietnamese meal for the family, the dinner takes on a life of its own, confronting Linh with her past and culture.

The Chemical Factory
USA / Animation / 14 minutes
Director/Writer: Drew Leung
Producer: Drew Leung
Cast: Yee Chan
“The Chemical Factory” is a short animated documentary featuring a Chinese immigrant mother recounting her life growing up during the tumultuous 1950’s communist China to her American son during the COVID-19 pandemic. Faded memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution are brilliantly rendered using groundbreaking technology, while drawing striking connections to the spate of violence towards the Asian community in America.

The Truth Within
USA / Animation / 3 minutes
Director/Writer: Gaby Soto, Juan Camilo Rincon
Producer: Ringling College of Art + Design
Cast: Keith Miller, Maria Pendolino
In a Make-a-Bear Store, a hard-boiled teddy bear detective is alerted by his lover of a dead body that has been found. Upon arriving at the crime scene, he starts unveiling clues which set him on a path to discovering the truth: Danger lurks closer than he thinks.