WORLD OF TOMORROW (2015)

Don Hertzfeldt is an incredible artist whose work has truly matured and grown with each project. Starting off with the comedy shorts of GENRE and BILLY’S BALLOON before branching out into more experimental fare like REJECTED and IT’S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY. But it’s his most recent films, the WORLD OF TOMORROW trilogy (so far), that display not only a deft artistic hand but a truly profound sense of humanity in its combination of experimentation, drama, and comedy.

And now the first installment is available in full for free on YouTube. I cannot recommend watching this short enough. It packs a ridiculous amount of imagination and pathos and insight into just 16.5 minutes and remains an amazing film that I revisit often. The deceptively simple plot synopsis (“A little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future.”) doesn’t convey just how beautiful WORLD OF TOMORROW truly is. So please watch and enjoy this inspired bit of animated filmmaking.