Animated Shorts 2025: Program 1
RiverRun’s Academy Award®-qualifying Animated Shorts Program showcases a vibrant collection of imaginative storytelling and artistic innovation. From hand-drawn wonders to cutting-edge digital creations, these films push the boundaries of animation while delivering heartfelt, humorous, and thought-provoking narratives.
Animated Shorts 2025: Program 2
RiverRun’s Academy Award®-qualifying Animated Shorts Program showcases a vibrant collection of imaginative storytelling and artistic innovation. From hand-drawn wonders to cutting-edge digital creations, these films push the boundaries of animation while delivering heartfelt, humorous, and thought-provoking narratives.
Antheor
A young woman decides to face her anxieties, returning to places occupied by the shadows of the past. Driven by tempestuous winds, she defies a wild sea and crosses sharp rocks like blades, to return to the origin..”
Bonjour Tristesse
“Bonjour Tristesse is a coming-of-age romantic drama film, adapted from the 1954 novel by Françoise Sagan. The film follows Cécile and her widowed father Raymond, who are spending the summer in the south of France with his latest flame, Elsa . However, the equilibrium is disrupted by the arrival of Anne, who is an old friend of Cécile’s parents.
Films With Class Shorts Program 2025 – Elementary School
Teaching through film. RiverRun recognizes the unique and critical role arts education plays in reaching students both inside and outside the classroom. Through our free education program, Films With Class, we present free screenings of carefully curated films for area students at the Festival each spring. Sponsored by Duke Energy and The Lovett Foundation.
Into the Wonderwoods
In this new animated film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, 10-year-old Angelo dreams of becoming an explorer and a zoologist. When he hits the road with his family to visit his beloved granny, his distracted parents leave him behind at a rest stop. Left to his own devices, Angelo decides to cut through the forest in search of his family. He enters a dark and mysterious world inhabited by strange creatures, some friendlier
Ma France á Moi
France has been living alone in her apartment since her husband’s death. When she hears on the radio that an NGO is connecting homeless migrants with people who are willing to welcome them, she decides, against her family’s wishes, to welcome Reza, a young Afghan broken by war and exile. Two worlds meet, and they slowly begin to help one another.
Moonlit Bamboo Forest
A young boy ventures into an ancient, mystical bamboo forest teeming with spirits and monsters from childhood tales.
Papillon (Butterfly)
In the sea, a man swims. As he does, memories come to the surface. From his early childhood to his life as a man, all his memories are linked to water. Some are happy, some glorious, some traumatic.
To Err is Human
Two computers exchange data all day long, until one of them has a quirky idea: it sends a joke! Is it a short circuit, a software bug? This anomaly gradually transforms their wired connection into a spiritual connection, creating a spark of humanity between the two robots, sweet and heady, which could potentially destroy their programming.
