One of the most powerful things about short films and animation – especially student films – is their ability to surprise you. They often don’t have the budget of big productions, but what they lack in resources, they make up for in raw creativity, clever storytelling and sheer ambition. Trash, a graduation film from the talented team at ESMA, is a perfect example of that.
I first encountered Trash through Shelley Page, a longtime champion of emerging animation talent. Shelley has worked some of the most best animated movies of the 80s and 90s, including Who Framed Roger Rabbit Each, Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon. Each year, Shelley sits on juries at the world's top schools, waiting – hoping – for a film that truly makes her say, 'Wow'. And this past year, during the ESMA graduation screenings in Montpellier, that moment arrived.
