(25) Short Film Sunday #11: Alma (2009)

Alma (2009).

Alma (2009) is  a brilliant little short film, creepy and scary, especially if all your childhood you had been scared of dolls. Well, I was and still am... And after this short I know why. The short is written and directed by Rodrigo Blaas, a former Pixar animator, who has worked on such beloved animations as, Wall-E, Up, Ratatouille, as well as La Luna (read my post on La Luna here), which are also my four favourite Pixar animations.

The animation is set in Barcelona during winter time and in concentrates around a little girl named Alma (in translation from Spanish it means "soul", which actually gives quite a deep subtext to the story), who gets tricked into an enchanted toy store, after in its window she sees a doll who looks like her. However, she doesn't know what awaits her in the spooky world of dolls...

The story is very well crafted, the animation is marvelous, and although the imagery of the short is sweet and adorable, as you can see from the picture above, despite that, there is quite a bit of underlying spookiness and creepiness. The short has won Animacor, International Animation Festival in Spain, award for the Best Andalusian Short, in 2009, it has also won an award for the Best Short in L.A. Shorts Fest in 2009. In 2010 it was announced that DreamWorks has made a deal with Rodrigo Blaas to adapt his short film Alma into a full length feature film, he himself will be directing it, with Guillermo del Toro executive producing it. According to this Variety article in June, 2012, the film was in visual development stage. So if you enjoy the short keep your eyes open, when the full length feature hits the big screens.

Now I will keep quiet and let you enjoy this adorable little piece! Have a good night's sleep!