Shorts #5: Animated Shorts: Tell Me Is It True
Total Running Time: 87 MIN
Truth is something to be savored, taken advantage of, feared, investigated, sought after, treasured, hidden away, uncovered, and faced head-on in this incredible program of the best, most striking, and unquestionably original new animated works to cross our paths this year. Welcome to Animated Shorts, 2022 style!
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Shorts #5: Animated Shorts: "Tell Me Is It True"
Local Middle Schooler
Directed by: Sanjna Bharadwaj
USA, 2021, 11m
California Institute of the Arts proudly kicks off this year’s festivities with this funny and eccentric short about a young teenage girl who discovers her eyelashes have magical powers, and quickly becomes a commodity to be exploited by, literally, everyone.

Shorts #5: Animated Shorts: "Tell Me Is It True"
Tennis Ball on His Day Off
Directed by: Julian Glander
USA, 2022, 3m
While leaving a voicemail to his grandma, a tennis ball questions a lot of his life choices and struggles to find his place in the world.

Shorts #5: Animated Shorts: "Tell Me Is It True"
My Parent, Neal
Directed by: Hannah Saidiner
USA, 2021, 8m
In this sweet documentary rendered in a watercolor visual style, the director interviews her parent about coming out as transgender, the process of transitioning, and what it has meant for their relationship.

Shorts #5: Animated Shorts: "Tell Me Is It True"
Life is a Particle Time is a Wave
Directed by: Daniel Zvereff
USA, 2022, 10m
In this uniquely hand-drawn, black & white, silent drama, an elderly widowed watchmaker spends his remaining days in solitude, distracting himself with routine chores and hobbies as he looks for meaning in the memories of his past.

Shorts #5: Animated Shorts: "Tell Me Is It True"
Launch
Directed by: Leah Shore
USA, 2021, 3m
Midnight favorite Leah Shore (“Don’t Touch Your Face,” FFF 2021; “Horses,” FFF 2017) is back with this bonkers work about scientists using the mirrors that were left on the moon to conduct experiments, yielding unexpected and terrifying results.

Shorts #5: Animated Shorts: "Tell Me Is It True"
Soft Animals
Directed by: Renee Zhan
USA/UK, 2021, 3m
Two ex-lovers cross paths in a train station, and as they converse, their small talk is punctuated by imagery from their past sexual and psychological history in spectacular ways. The latest extraordinary multi-media work from the director of “Reneepoptosis” (FFF 2019).

Shorts #5: Animated Shorts: "Tell Me Is It True"
People Person
Directed by: Rymalena
USA, 2021, 14m
Desperate to escape her reality, a young woman uses technology to immerse herself in her own subconscious through a myriad of virtual personas. A gorgeous piece of sci-fi, originally shot live-action, then rotoscoped, giving the story a hypnotic and dream-like quality.

Shorts #5: Animated Shorts: "Tell Me Is It True"
Still Life
Directed by: Conner Griffith
USA, 2021, 7m
In this experimental, black & white, non-narrative work, over 1000 engravings from the 18th and 19th century are utilized to create visual poetry and become a meditation on objectivity and meaning.

Shorts #5: Animated Shorts: "Tell Me Is It True"
TRICHOTILLOMANIA!
Directed by: Kelly Schiesswohl
USA, 2021, 4m
The filmmaker tries to process her own bizarre struggle with a hair pulling disorder, getting progressively more freaked out as she begins a Google-search-gone-wrong.

Shorts #5: Animated Shorts: "Tell Me Is It True"
7LBS 8OZ
Directed by: Yoo Lee
USA, 2022, 7m
When a young mom with a newborn baby moves onto the 8th Street block in Jersey City, NJ, she learns the value of community and how looks can be deceiving. A stop motion, clay-mation love letter to a neighborhood.

Shorts #5: Animated Shorts: "Tell Me Is It True"
My One Minute Memoir (Dreams of a Fallen Astronaut)
Directed by: Chel White
USA, 2021, 2m
Award-winning multi-FFF alumnus Chel White (“Little Donnie, The Ten Inch Terror,” FFF 2018) returns with this short reevaluation of his childhood obsessions with astronauts and Jacques Cousteau. A fleeting and sardonic autobiographical work that combines direct xerography animation, stop motion, live action, and CGI.

Shorts #5: Animated Shorts: "Tell Me Is It True"
fulcrum
Directed by: Timothy David Orme
USA, 2021, 8m
In this stunning and meditative experimental work, a young woman in a boat is rowing through space, self, and consciousness, as the math of the universe unfolds.

Shorts #5: Animated Shorts: "Tell Me Is It True"
Oldboy’s Apples
Directed by: Brad Hock
USA, 2021, 7m
Beyond the hedge, beneath the well, ancient spirits sing their song to reawaken the mystery of the hidden apple. Nearly three years in the making, this is a transfixing and hallucinogenic stop motion portal to another realm. David Lynch would love this!