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shareGet ready for a mix of wonder, warmth, and imagination. This short film collection – for kids of all ages – brings together deeply human stories and handcrafted artistry—from quiet lessons about love and loss to wild bursts of creativity and humor.
You’ll meet a young girl finding healing through her grandfather’s pottery in Clay Bird, and a Native kid on a mission to charge his dying console in Pow!. Deuce captures the fragile space between childhood and adolescence, while Snow Bear and Cardboard celebrate resilience and imagination in beautifully animated worlds.
And as a special highlight, legendary musician Kate Bush makes her directorial mark with Little Shrew (Snowflake), a haunting, poetic journey through a war-torn landscape that feels as visionary as her music.
It’s a lineup of stories that will make you laugh, think, and maybe even tear up—a perfect reminder of why short films matter.
In this program
Clay Bird
Directed by Kiran Bhakta Joshi
Clay Bird follows 9-year-old Sichu and her potter grandfather. After lashing out at him due to
school bullying, she soon loses him. In grief, she learns how his art touched others. As she heals, she reclaims a clay bird she once broke—lovingly repaired by him—honoring his memory and
love.
Pow!
Directed by Joey Clift
A Native American kid scrambles to charge his dying video game console at a bustling intertribal powwow.
Deuce
Directed by Margot Budzyna
Two best friends, Michael & Addie, grapple with a divide they cannot articulate as summer’s end brings the space between childhood and adolescence to a close. Michael attends his first baseball practice, where he grapples with newfound masculine expectations while Addie yearns for access to a world that has suddenly sidelined her. Their friendship is put to the ultimate test as themes of identity, gender and the bittersweet nature of childhood come to a head.
Snow Bear
Directed by Aaron Blaise
When a lonely polar bear can’t find a friend…. he makes one.
Set in a rapidly changing world, Snow Bear tells the story of a polar bear in an unforgiving environment on his quest to find a friend.
This independently produced 2D hand drawn film was painstakingly created entirely by Aaron Blaise over 3 years.
With Aaron’s lifelong dedication to studying, drawing, and animating animals, the adventure is infused with humor, relatability, and emotional depth in the tradition of classic animated films.
Little Shrew (Snowflake)
Directed by Kate Bush
A little shrew searches for Hope as she makes her way across a bombed-out city. Blissfully unaware of the dangers surrounding her, she journeys through a war-torn Land of the Giants. Stunned and caught up in an explosion as the city is being bombed during a drone attack, she recovers and manages to continue her search for Hope…
Cardboard
Directed by Jean-Philippe Vine
When an overwhelmed, single dad pig moves his piglets into a rundown trailer park, he fears he’s failed his family. But soon his kids create a wildly imaginative game from a simple cardboard box, and Dad has a choice: dwell on the past, or join them on their intergalactic adventure.
Amen
A group of pigs are raised peacefully in a monastery when, one day, one of them finds out the truth behind their existence. Thus he decides to free his friends.
Dates & Times
St. Louis Public Library’s Central Library
November 8, 2025
10:00 am
