Fantasia always has a plethora of short films. Due to time, it was not possible to review all that many, so here are 2 that are animated and wildly different:
Sunspark (short) (2026)
A robot working hard finding existence a bit lonely stumbles upon another robot needing assistance while looking for truck parts.
Written, directed, starring, and basically all the things by Danny Bourque, Sunspark is a cute animated film that takes the idea that loneliness is universal and applies to robots in a time where there seems to be no humans. The story is touching, and the characters are adorable, making this an easy, fun watch with a message about loneliness and finding your people in the most unlikely places. The quality of the work here is solid with lots of talent on display with a story that shows that sometimes less is more, and a shorter runtime is not always a limitation or a bad thing.
Lab Rat (short) (2026)
A rat tells his story from his cage, first content with water and food on tap, soon realizing why he is there. Then the cycle repeats, repeats, repeats.
From writer-director-animator Eric Bent, Lab Rat is a dark tale with even darker imagery about a, you guessed it, lab rat. This film is dark and shows that sometimes you need to be to pass a message. The way the rat is humanized and given a literal voice makes this film one that some will find hard to watch and one that makes you think about what happens in animal testing. The visuals here are not afraid to go where they need to in order to make a point with animation that is clear and clean, giving the rat more life and personality than the humans imposing cruelty upon him. The voice acting by Jovien Smith is on point here, and if this work alone doesn’t pull on the heartstring, a check-up may be needed. This short film is excellent with maybe a small need to trim the run time as it clocks in at 25 minutes which is a bit much for a short film.
Fantasia 2026 runs from July 16th to August 2nd, 2026