Portland Film Festival 2024

Animation Shorts

Expired October 28, 2024 4:00 AM
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9 films in package
LUKi and the Lights
LUKi, a charming and upbeat robot known for living life to the fullest, is diagnosed with the life-altering disease ALS. He must choose how to face life going forward.
Anansi the Spider
Anansi the Spider must outsmart the biggest, most dangerous animals in the jungle... Or be eaten himself!
Tomte's Tulip
A gnome takes care of an elderly woman in her final days.
Behind Closed Drawers
What happens when you place flowers in a hostile environment? Behind Closed Drawers is a stop-motion animated short that follows a child trying to cope with domestic violence through art.
Fiego and the Magic Fish
A happily married Italian fisherman named Fiego catches a magic fish and makes wishes to give his wife the good life.
Day Trip
A critter named Fuzz has decided that today he climbs 'Mount Magoo' all by himself, but as his story continues, he soon realizes that he'll need help.
What If?
While working up the nerve to ask her crush out, an anxious high school girl is sucked into her imagination of what could go wrong.
Hanina/Homesick
A young Nubian girl embarks on a journey back in time to reconnect with her drowned homeland. Guided by the Nile egret, she travels underwater within the lake created by Egypt's Aswan High Dam to visit Nubia's mountains and palm trees, water wheels and houses, men and women. She bids farewell to her people as they board the boats that will take them to their resettlement villages. Returning to her own time, she carries the strength of knowing that Nubia will always live on inside her.
The Nectar Instead
A young fly gets trapped in the fly trap in the stop-motion studio only to have the existential realization that it spent its entire life chasing after the wrong thing.

Through the lens of LUKi’s unwavering resilience, the story of his battle against ALS transforms into a testament to the human (and robotic) spirit’s ability to find light even in the darkest of times. With every choice he makes, every smile he shares, and every second he cherishes, LUKi paints a vivid portrait of what it means to truly live, even as the sands of time slip through his grasp.

  • Year
    2023
  • Runtime
    11 minutes
  • Country
    United States
  • Rating
    G
  • Genre
    Childhood/Family, For Kids of All Ages, disease/ illness
  • Awards
    Colorado Short Circuit Festival - Best Animation, South Dakota Film Festival - Jury Award, Siggraph Electronic Theater - Audience Choice Award, Heartland Indy Shorts - Animated Audience Choice Award, 19th Animayo Gran Canaria - Children’s Audience Award - “My First Festival”, Cinemagic ‘On the Pulse’ Short Film Festival - Jury Prize Award, 48th Cleveland International Film Festival - FilmSlam Student Choice Award for Best Short, 43rd Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival Audience Choice Award - Animated Short, 2024 Phoenix Film Festival - Best Animated Short, 2024 Florida Film Festival - Matthew Curtis Audience Award for Best Short Film, and 2024 Leuven disABILITY Film Festival - Jury Award
  • Note
    #biggrinproductions, #LUKiandtheLights, #ALS, #ShinelightonALS, #AnimatedShortFilm For the first time ever, an animated character depicts and visually explains the disease to families and children to help them understand this terrible disease.
  • Social Media
  • Director
    Toby Cochran
  • Screenwriter
    Toby Cochran
  • Producer
    Adrian Ochoa
  • Executive Producer
    Toby Cochran, Anjo Sniders
  • Filmmaker
    Big Grin Productions
  • Cast
    Anjo Snijders as Theo, Kendra Vernon as Neefa, Toby Cochran as LUKi
  • Cinematographer
    Charlie Ramos
  • Editor
    Toby Cochran
  • Animator
    ANIMATION SUPERVISORS - Michelle Meeker & Alex Ferreira Simoes
  • Production Design
    Marie Thorhauge
  • Composer
    Charlie McCarron
  • Sound Design
    Andrew Vernon
  • Music
    Marty Brueggemann
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