BEST STUDENT ANIMATION / THE THREAD OF LIFE

BEST STUDENT ANIMATION / THE THREAD OF LIFE

Screening:
Palace of Culture Pernik, Hall 2
  • When Ocean Rises

    Yongxin Wang Germany, Drama, Comedy, Environment, No Dialogue, 00:06:16

    A polar bear and a penguin, who have lost their home and are looking for a new place to live, meet on the island where the dog lives. They all want the house for themselves until the ocean begins to rise and the island slowly sinks into the sea.

  • How To Build A Sand Castle

    Nour Khamis Ecuador, Animation, English, 00:04:20

    How to Build a Sand Castle is a four minute hand- drawn animated short that uses the metaphor of a crumbling sandcastle to explore queer self- discovery, shedding shame, and reclaiming identity with newfound clarity and power.

  • Strokes of Wildflowers

    Livvy Seabrook-Wilkins United Kingdom, Animation, Animated Documentary, Student Short Film, Animated Student Short Film, Documentary, English, 00:03:43

    Stroke survivors share their stories about the mental and physical struggles they face and the importance of community within their recovery.

  • 走 (zǒu)

    Hannah Wu United Kingdom, Animation, English, Mandarin Chinese, 00:03:31

    A journey through the pages of my mother’s old Chinese-English dictionary. Combining ink drawings on paper with direct animation on 35mm film, various definitions of the Chinese character for ‘walk’ take on meanings in turn literal, historical, personal and abstract. An experimental animated short about language, meaning and moving through the world (one drawing at a time).

  • TAUT

    Ilya Lorenz Barrett Germany, Exprerimental, Fantasy, Dramedy, No Dialogue, 00:05:39

    Stringo the Stunted Wellow doesn’t fit in with his flock. While they stay still when the wind blows, Stringo jerks and twitches. Life isn’t what it used to be, but he’s okay with that—his world is quiet and calm. One day, a scary, hand-shaped creature enters their grove. The others pretend to be dead, but Stringo’s movements get him noticed. The creature grabs him and drags him away. Stringo fights back and wins, but he’s changed. When he returns, his flock doesn’t recognize or accept him. With nowhere left to go, Stringo lets the wind carry him.

  • ToWer

    SIQI WEI Japan, Animation, English, Japanese, 00:05:14

    This work takes as its central theme the problematic phenomenon of binge-eating livestreams in contemporary internet culture, and represents it through the metaphor of a towering structure rising from the desert—an allegory of exploitative internet corporations. The protagonist, a man suffering from prolonged poverty and unemployment, is portrayed as perpetually hungry, while the bird accompanying him functions as a projection of his inner self. In the early stages of the narrative, the man, though emaciated, devotes himself to nurturing the bird with genuine affection. However, once targeted by a predatory internet company, he begins livestreaming under the guidance of the bird—an embodiment of his subconscious impulses. As his audience grows and revenue increases, his body fails to endure the excessive consumption demanded by the broadcasts. The bird offers him a tube for vomiting, symbolizing both physical survival and psychological degradation. The man continues to vomit and eat in pursuit of profit, gradually losing control and descending into madness under the domination of monetary desire. It even felt like experiencing hallucinations similar to having taken marijuana. Eventually, the bird dies, signifying the extinction of the man’s last remnant of rationality. With rising income came elevated consumption standards and escalating demands from the company, yet he remains convinced of his ability to “earn again.” In the final scene, he sacrifices the bird to open the last door, only to discover an empty room, with the key to escape hanging from the ceiling. The sole being capable of retrieving it—the bird—has already been killed by his own hands. Confronting the bird’s corpse, he realizes that his health, livelihood, and existence itself have all been exploited and exhausted by the corporate machinery. After his disappearance, the corporation remains unchanged, continuing its cycle of deception and exploitation by ensnaring the next greedy victim. Through this narrative, the work critiques the distorted values of contemporary online society, issues a warning against the excessive consumption of one’s own body in the pursuit of desire, and exposes the relentless exploitative structure of internet corporations.

  • The Whale Island

    Yiming Feng Yan Chen Yechu Jin Yici Cao China, Animation, 00:08:37

    The elderly person lives on a whale island and loves this land, where humans and nature coexist harmoniously. But an unexpected event struck, with countless pieces of garbage falling from the sky, putting the Whale Island world in danger. In adversity, whales sacrifice themselves to save the world. But in fact, the Whale Island world is just a phantom of the polluted reality. The ultimate sacrifice of whales brings a glimmer of vitality and hope to reality.

  • In Ten Minutes

    Xiaoyue Fu China, Animation, 00:05:16

    The little granddaughter lives with her grandmother. Grandma waits for her granddaughter at home after school every day. That day, grandma still cooked the meal, but she couldn't wait for her granddaughter to come back. Grandma's worries about her granddaughter turned into exaggerated imagination, filling every moment of waiting......

  • Warp and Weft

    Isolda Milenkovic United Kingdom, Documentary, Craft, Textiles, Art, Women, Feminism, English, 00:03:46

    Warp and Weft is an animated documentary short about traditional textile crafts. A love letter to the act of hand-making, traditional craft practices, and the people who love them. Stemming from the fear of these artforms slipping away in a society that no longer values the human labour behind them.

  • The Peel

    NanTung Lin Belgium, Finland, Portugal, Taiwan, Animation, 00:06:20

    After a flat tire leaves her stranded in the woods, a woman revisits haunting memories of her self-destructive tendencies. As she peels the skin from her fingers, each strip draws her deeper into the past. With every layer, she steps closer to the hidden child within herself.