Father and Daughter by Michael Dudok de Wit

It always amazes me to discover what’s up on YouTube. Last week, when I had to do an article on the fashion anime series Paradise Kiss, I was able to watch the whole season on YouTube. Same with Nickelodeon animated series My Life as a Teenage Robot.

What I’ve always had trouble accessing, since there’s absolutely no way to purchase it in the Philippines, and since it didn’t use to be popular enough to get it put up online, was animated shorts by independent animated filmmakers. They used to fill up the Animated Short Film category in the Oscars, until the major studios started coming up with shorts that could be entered into the category.

One of my favorite short films, which I saw during a Dutch Animation Film Festival in 2001, was Father and Daughter by Michael Dudok de Wit. Created in sepia tones with a pencil and charcoal look, the fairly minimal character design against the backdrop of Dutch countryside sets the stage for a quiet yet very moving and powerful story of family, memory, longing, and the things that stay with us for our whole lives.

Apart from the Academy Award and BAFTA, the short has won honors in the Independent Film Awards, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Cinanima Animation Festival, and Holland Animation Film Festival, among others.
Thanks to YouTube, you can watch the whole 8-minute short for yourself. After that, call up a loved one (may I suggest your dad) and tell him you love him.