June 5, 2000 – The Pixar Short Film For the Birds Premieres at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival
“[For the Birds] began actually as a student film, a long time ago, and I could never bring myself to draw all these little birds that are about to pop up on the screen.” – Director Ralph Eggleston
On June 5, 2000, the Pixar short film For the Birds premiered at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in Annecy, France. After its showing, it was released alongside Pixar’s fourth animated feature, Monsters, Inc, and would go on to win several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Short Animated Film. According to Pixar, the names of the smaller birds that start the teasing are Bully, Chipper, Snob, and Neurotic. The short was re-rendered into 3D for the 3D theatrical rerelease of Monsters, Inc. in 2012. It was directed by Ralph Eggleston.
A bird flies onto the screen and perches on a nearby telephone wire and makes himself comfortable. He is soon joined by several others, and they all begin to squeak amongst themselves, before they are interrupted by a strange honking noise. They all turn to see a large, rather dopey-looking bird, and they start making fun of him. The big bird doesn’t realize that he’s being made fun of, and decides to join the birds on the wire. As he sits on the wire, it bends underneath his weight, and the birds slide into him. Annoyed, they squawk loudly, and one of the birds pecks him hard in the side, sending the big bird flying off the wire, although still holding on with his feet. The same small bird that pecked the big bird pecks one of the big bird’s toes, and it slips from the wire. The birds then get an idea to keep pecking away until the big bird has let go, with the other birds cheering the main two birds on. A bit too late, one bird realizes that once the big bird lets go, they will all be catapulted into the air. As the birds are shot out of their feathers, the big bird sits up, still rather oblivious to the teasing and the malice, and starts blowing the feathers gently. The smaller birds land on the ground, completely naked, and the big bird laughs hysterically as the birds scamper into the nearby wheat field in shame.
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