Best Sparkshorts
"Smash and Grab" is a 2019 science fiction animated short film directed by Brian Larsen. Produced under Pixar's SparkShorts program, the film follows two identical robots working tirelessly inside the engine of a massive futuristic train. The short explores their desire to break free from their mono...
Out is a 2020 animated short film created under Pixar's SparkShorts program and directed by Steven Clay Hunter. The story follows a young gay man named Greg who is anxious about coming out to his parents before moving to a new city with his boyfriend. Through a magical realism twist involving his do...
Purl is a 2019 animated short film directed by Kristen Lester as the first release in Pixar's SparkShorts program. The story centers on an anthropomorphic ball of yarn named Purl who attempts to fit in at a male-dominated corporate office. It explores themes of workplace toxicity, exclusion, and gen...
Wind is a 2019 animated Pixar SparkShort written and directed by Edwin Chang. It follows a boy named Ellis and his grandmother as they live among debris in a vast subterranean chasm and assemble a machine intended to carry them to the world above. The fantasy setting supports a story about sacrifice...
Self is a 2024 Pixar SparkShort directed by Searit Kahsay Huluf. It combines stop-motion animation with computer-generated imagery to tell a compact story about a wooden doll searching for a sense of belonging. The short uses the doll's encounter with a world of other figures to explore identity, se...
Why this score?
Recent SparkShort praised for hybrid craft and representation, with limited awards footprint and mixed-to-solid audience response.
Scoring methodology
Nona is a 2021 computer-animated short film from Pixar's SparkShorts program, written and directed by Louis Gonzales. Its story centers on a grandmother who plans to watch professional wrestling alone until her granddaughter's unexpected visit changes the day. The short combines a family relationshi...
