| Snow Bear | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Directed by | Aaron Blaise |
| Produced by | Nicholas Burch |
| Music by |
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Production company | Aaron Blaise Studios |
Release date |
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Running time | 11 minutes |
| Country | United States |
Snow Bear is a 2025 American animated short film written and directed by Aaron Blaise. The 11-minute animated film following the life of a lonely polar bear was selected in various international film festivals, including the Annecy Film Festival, [1] the Tribeca Film Festival [2] [3] and Animafest Zagreb. [4] The film was entirely animated by Aaron Blaise himself over the span of three years. [5]
Snow Bear is currently available to watch on Blaise's YouTube channel.
The film follows a lonely male polar bear in the Arctic, living on the unforgivable ice floe. Unable to make friends (after failing to befriend an arctic fox, some orcas, and Canada geese), he decides to create his own out of snow, and spends time with it - watching the aurora borealis with it, playing hide-and-seek with it, eating seals with it, sliding with it, and imitating the nearby walruses with it.
One morning, the snow-made bear starts melting. He tries to save it, but sadly can't do anything. Eventually, after mourning the loss of his "friend", the bear discovers an Arctic island with a lot of green grass. While exploring, he discovers another snow-made bear, and is surprised to discover that it was made by a female polar bear. The two become mates and make another snow bear to be the female's snow bear's friend.
During the credits, the two polar bears play games with each other and have two cubs together, who learn how to build snow sculptures of all the Arctic animals.
Since its release, the film has been selected in various festivals around the world:
| Year | Festivals | Award/Category | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Annecy International Animation Film Festival | Young Audience Award [6] | Nominated |
| Cleveland International Film Festival | Best Family Short Audience Choice Award [7] | Won | |
| Animafest Zagreb | Best Film for Children and Youth [8] | Won | |
| El Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara (FICG) | Rigo Mora Prize [9] | Nominated | |
| Hollyshorts Film Festival | Best Animated Short [10] | Nominated | |
| Tribeca Film Festival [11] | Best Animated Short [12] | Nominated | |
| San Francisco Film Festival | Family Short Award [13] | Nominated | |
| Santa Fe International Film Festival | Best Animated Short Jury Award [14] | Won |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)This article needs additional or more specific categories .(September 2025) |