Pixar‘s Finding Dory made $1.018 billion at the global box office—so there’s a good chance you’ve seen Piper, which screened beforehand. For everyone else: It just landed online for the first time via Vimeo.
Written and directed by Alan Barillaro, Piper is a moving short film about sandpipers, crabs, and the ocean that explores childhood fear and overcoming the mundane traumas of early development. It preaches universal themes about learning to be resourceful by finding your own toolkit in life. And, of course, its animation is reliably gorgeous.
Did someone say sequel?
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- The complete schedule of upcoming Pixar movies
- Pixar animators spent 5 years making this devastatingly beautiful short film in their spare time
Correction 6:50am CT, Nov. 7: An earlier version of this story misstated the source of Finding Dory’s billion-dollar box office: That includes worldwide earnings, not just domestic. It also claimed the short starred seagulls, but those creatures are most notable for their appearance in Finding Nemo instead.