June 6, 2012 – The Short Film Paperman Premieres at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival
“A single young man in mid-century New York chances upon a beautiful young woman. Will he see her again?”
On June 6, 2012, the short film Paperman premiered at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. The short was a minimalistic film that was a blend of 2D and CG animation in a new blend where the CG enhanced the 2D animation rather than the other way around. The short was met with critical acclaim at the festival, and would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Short Film. It was directed by John Kahrs, with story by Clio Chiang and Kendelle Hoyer, and score by Christophe Beck.
The short begins with a man waiting for his train, when a paper belonging to a young woman hits his shoulder. The two wait silently, and when another train passes, one of the man’s papers flies into the face of the woman, leaving a lipstick stain on the sheet. After they share a laugh, the man watches the young woman head the other way on her train. He sits at his desk at work, despondent, when he sees her in an office across the street. Trying to get her attention, he decides to make paper airplanes out of his paperwork, with many near misses. Eventually, he runs out of paper, leaving only the sheet with the lipstick mark available. Seeing that it is his last chance, he turns the sheet into a plane, but the wind whips it out of his hand before he can send it flying her direction. He decides to chase after her, but loses her in the street. He finds the airplane with the lipstick, and angrily throws it across town. The plane comes across all the other paper airplanes, and gathers them together in a whirlwind. The planes find the man and follow him before attaching themselves to him. They carry him across town to the train station, while the lipstick plane finds the girl and has her follow it to the train station. The man and woman are reunited at the train station from that morning, and are seen having a date in the credits.
disneydetail 