Partly Cloudy: A Lonely Cloud Creates Hazardous Babies for His Stork-Partner

Partly Cloudy is a delightful animated short film by Pixar Animation Studios, which was named as one of 10 films to advance in the voting process for the “Animated Short Films” category for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.  The list is international, with movies representing production companies from Australia, France, America, Canada and other countries.

In Partly Cloudy, the storks get their babies from way up high in the stratosphere, where cloud people sculpt babies from clouds and bring them to life.  However, in this story there is a real dilemma.  Gus, a lonely and insecure gray cloud, is a master at creating “dangerous” babies: crocodiles, porcupines, rams and even much worse.  Gus’s beloved creations are truly works of art, but they’re more than a handful for his loyal delivery-stork partner, Peck.  As Gus’s creations become more and more rambunctious, Peck’s job gets harder and harder.  How on earth will Peck manage to handle both his hazardous cargo and his friend’s fiery temperament?

Partly Cloudy: A Lonely Cloud Creates Hazardous Babies for His Stork-Partner

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Skhizein: The Sad Story of a Man Living 91-Centimeters from Himself

Skhizein is a humorously strange animated short film by the French filmmaker Jérémy Clapin.  The film has earned several awards, including The Cannes’ Kodak Prize for Best Animated Short and Animafest’s Best Film; it was a 2008 Oscar nominated animated short film.

What would happen if a 150-ton meteorite fell on you? Skhizein tells the very sorrowful story about sad Henry, who did experience the terrible misfortune of being struck by a 150-ton meteorite, which resulted in the poor fellow being split away from himself, forever having to live precisely ninety-one centimeters from himself.  If Harry wants to move or do anything like answer the phone or sit in a chair, he has to measure his distance 91-centimeters (3 feet) away, because he always exists 91-centimeters from where he used to exist.

And if insanity is measured in centimeters….

Skhizein: The Sad Story of a Man Living 91-Centimeters from Himself

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ZooLogic: A Penguin and Gorilla’s Comedic Revolt Against a Pompous Zookeeper Bully

ZooLogic is an unexpectedly hilarious, widely acclaimed 4-minute animated short film directed by Nicole Mitchell. The animated short was both the Development Award Winner and the Grand Jury Award Winner at the 2007 Nickelodeon Animation Festival; ZooLogic then went on to win the 2008 Student Academy Award Gold Medal in Animation.  The vintage-looking, hand-drawn film tells the story of a pompous, over-controlling zookeeper who forces his animals to look and behave as he thinks the public would expect.  This is much to the dismay of a lonely gorilla whose prized stuffed red toy is grabbed and thrown away, and to the annoyance of the lemur whose tail is painfully combed begrudgingly into a heavy display.

The zookeeper’s absolute rule begins to falter, however, when he encounters a fat little penguin, who refuses to be whipped into shape by him.  The mischievously comedic little penguin quickly gives the zookeeper his comeuppance, then teams up with the gorilla to lead the zoo’s other animals through a successful revolution comprised of a hilarious ensuing chain of events.  As an important analogy for children and young people, the animals come together against the zookeeper like children rallying to overcome a bully, but in a humorously light manner that young audiences can digest.

ZooLogic: A Penguin and Gorilla’s Comedic Revolt Against a Pompous Zookeeper Bully

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The Silent City: An Introspectively Surreal Vision of War

The Silent City is an astonishing Oscar-nominated short film by Ruairi Robinson, which brilliantly combines computer graphics with live footage. The film is a concisely introspective surreal story about wartime, which shows the ordeal of three soldiers who are on the outskirts of a war torn city.  While patrolling an area in a secluded sector of a now silent city, a bomb is accidentally set off and they have to wait for help.  One reviewer claims that The Silent City rivals anything seen about wartime since Coppola’s Apocalypse Now or Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket.  The film provides a powerful statement about our troops who are now facing death in foreign lands.

The Silent City: An Introspectively Surreal Vision of War

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