The Brief
What the room asked for.
A nine-minute animated short about loss, repair and the inherited shape of grief — told entirely through the journey of a single broken vase.
Phoenix served as the lead animation studio across pre-production, character animation, lighting and final composite. The short premiered at the 2025 Annecy showcase.
Our Approach
How it came together.
Painterly look dev
Custom shaders that hold brushstroke at any focal length. Reference boards mixed Ghibli stills, Yinka Shonibare textiles and Soga Shōhaku ink work.
Performance pass
Hand-keyed character animation on twos, with a small AI-assisted polish pass for breath, micro-blinks and weight transfer only.
Lighting as score
Each act locked to a single dominant light source — window, lantern, dawn — to carry the emotional beat without dialogue.
Festival master
DCP, ProRes 4444 archival and streaming masters. 5.1 mix tuned for festival cinemas and home stereo alike.
Selected Frames
The Result
Annecy
2025 selection
9 min
Final runtime
12
Festival invites
Credits
People who
made it.
- DirectorFolake Bamidele
- Animation LeadSipho Dlamini
- MusicLagos String Quartet
