Bear Story

An old bear leaves his house every morning and goes to a busy street corner. He carries a tin puppet theatre he made himself. When the handle is turned the figures inside move and tell a story: a family of bears, a circus, an abduction, a cage and a return. Children give a coin and watch. The bear tells the same story every day, and its ending is not the ending of his own life. Gabriel Osorio directs. The short is from Chile and runs under ten minutes. It won the Oscar for best animated short in 2016, the first Oscar for Chile in that category. The source is the director's own family; his grandfather was arrested during the military period in Chile and had to leave the country, living for years away from his family. The film does not tell that story directly; it gives it by figure and uses no political statement. The animation has two layers: the world outside is computer animated, while the inside of the puppet theatre works in metal and gears. There is no speech at all and the narrative proceeds entirely through image and music. The ending offers no hope and the difference between what happened and what is told is left plain. Who it is for: viewers who like short animation and symbolic narratives. Who it is not for: it is very short, the subject is heavy, and it is not a children's film.