Snow Bear

Last updated
Snow Bear
Snow Bear Film Poster.jpg
Directed by Aaron Blaise
Produced byNicholas Burch
Music by
Production
company
Aaron Blaise Studios
Release date
  • November 28, 2025 (2025-11-28)
Running time
11 minutes
CountryUnited 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]

Contents

Snow Bear is currently available to watch on Blaise's YouTube channel.

Plot

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.

Accolades

Since its release, the film has been selected in various festivals around the world:

YearFestivalsAward/CategoryStatus
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 FestivalFamily Short Award [13] Nominated
Santa Fe International Film Festival Best Animated Short Jury Award [14] Won

References

  1. ↑ "Film d'animation catégorie Jeune public : Snow Bear |". www.annecyfestival.com (in French). Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  2. ↑ Coates, Jazz Tangcay,Matt Minton,Abigail Lee,Lauren (2025-04-24). "Tribeca Festival Launches Immersive Technology Exhibit 'In Search of Us' – Film News in Brief". Variety. Retrieved 2025-07-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ Milligan, Mercedes (2025-04-22). "Tribeca Fest Unveils Animated Shorts Lineup Curated by Whoopi Goldberg". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  4. ↑ "animafest.hr". animafest.hr. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  5. ↑ Billington, Alex (2025-03-26). "Aaron Blaise's Homemade Animated Short 'Snow Bear' Official Trailer | FirstShowing.net". www.firstshowing.net. Retrieved 2025-08-11.
  6. ↑ Zahed, Ramin (2025-03-17). "Exclusive: Annecy Intl. Animation Festival Reveals Eclectic Lineup for Its 2025 Official Shorts Competition". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  7. ↑ "CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES THE CIFF49 AWARD WINNERS". www.clevelandfilm.org. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  8. ↑ Staff, F. N. E. "Winners of Animafest Zagreb 2025 - FilmNewEurope.com". www.filmneweurope.com. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  9. ↑ "Oso de nieve". vp.eventival.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  10. ↑ "21st Annual HollyShorts Film Festival". hollyshorts2025.eventive.org. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  11. ↑ Goldsmith, Jill (2025-04-22). "Tribeca Festival 2025 Unveils Expanded Shorts Program With Dedicated Screening Room". Deadline. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  12. ↑ Sabroski, Ryan (2025-06-08). "'Snow Bear' (Tribeca) Non-Spoiler Review – A Simple But Stunning Animated Tale". The Cinema Spot. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  13. ↑ "AwardsWatch - 68th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) Lineup: Josh O'Connor in 'Rebuilding,' Tributes to André Holland, Chris Columbus". AwardsWatch. 2025-03-26. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  14. ↑ Molloy, Tim (2025-10-23). "Free Leonard Peltier, Nika and Madison Win Top Awards at Santa Fe International Film Festival". www.moviemaker.com. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.