Jan 10, 2019

Pixar Launches New Short Film Program "Spark Shorts

Disney-Pixar today announced the launch of Sparkshorts, a new short film program that it describes as "an experimental storytelling initiative that welcomes new creative voices at Pixar Animation Studios to share their stories."

The program has been in place since at least 2017, when we first wrote about the initiative, but had not been officially announced until today.

The first three shorts in the program - "Smash and Grab" by Brian Larsen, "Pearl" by Kristen Lester, and "Kitbull" by Rosana Sullivan - will have an exclusive week-long screening at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood beginning January 18 The films will be screened exclusively for a week at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood starting January 18. They will then be released on Youtube in February, marking the first time that content will be released exclusively on that platform. [The Spark Shorts program is designed to discover new storytellers, explore new storytelling techniques, and experiment with new production workflows," said Jim Morris, president of Pixar Animation Studios. These productions, unlike anything we've done at Pixar before, will be on a smaller scale than usual and will provide an opportunity to tap into the potential of individual artists and their creative filmmaking approaches." [Lindsey Collins, Pixar's Vice President of Development, said, "We want to nurture the storytellers of the future and encourage them to share their stories with the world. Who are the directors and producers of the future and what crazy new ideas do they have? This program was created to provide opportunities for a variety of artists with unique voices.

Below are descriptions of the first three short films and their release dates on Youtube:

Other artists who directed films for the Sparkshorts program include Erica Milsom ("Loop"), Edwin Chang ("Wind"), Bobby Rubio ("Float"), among others.

All short films will be available on Disney+, a streaming service that Disney plans to launch in late 2019.