Alma Short Film (2009): The Creepy Doll Story by a Pixar Animator

Alma Short Film (2009) is Rodrigo Blaas’s 5-minute animated horror short about a girl and a doll in a toy store window. Ending, awards, DreamWorks feature, where to watch free.

Alma Short Film (2009): The 5-Minute Animated Horror Short That Looks Like Pixar and Feels Like a Nightmare

A little girl walks through a snowy Barcelona street, spots a doll in a shop window that looks exactly like her and goes inside. Alma Short Film is a five-minute computer-animated short by Pixar animator Rodrigo Blaas, made on his own time. It started as a spare-hours side project, won awards around the world, and caught the attention of Guillermo del Toro and DreamWorks.

Alma Short Film is not a Pixar production, although its polish makes people assume it is. It is a personal project by an animator who worked at the studio.

Quick Facts

Detail	Info
Title	Alma (Spanish for “soul”)
Director / Writer	Rodrigo Blaas
Composer	Nacho Mastretta
Producer	Raúl Bernabé (per the Goya Awards list)
Runtime	About 5 minutes (some listings say 6)
Format	Computer-animated short, no dialogue
Genre	Horror, fantasy, mystery
Country	Spain
Premiere	Palm Springs ShortFest, June 2009
Awards	3 wins and 3 nominations on IMDb
Feature spin-off	Announced at DreamWorks Animation with Guillermo del Toro as executive producer

Watch the Trailer

There is no trailer, because the film is five minutes long. The full short is the best introduction, and it is free online (see below).

Watch the Shorts

Alma Short Film has long been available free online. Blaas posted it on Vimeo, and Short of the Week featured it in December 2009 with the line that a curious kid is tempted into a toy store where things are not quite as they seem. Many YouTube copies exist as well. For a similar mood, Short of the Week’s own library has other dark animated shorts.

Synopsis

Spoiler-free.

On a cold, snowy day in Barcelona, a little girl wanders down a lonely street, stops at a chalkboard covered in children’s names and adds her own: Alma Short Film. She is drawn to a gloomy toy shop, where she notices a doll in the window physically identical to her. Her curiosity wins out over caution. A reviewer described the tone as slightly creepy, slightly cheery, and another said it finds the balance between sweet and chilling. The ending is the reason people remember the film, and the full explanation is in the spoiler note below.

Spoiler note: The film ends with the girl trapped inside the doll among many other trapped children, while the shop moves on to its next victim, a cycle that implies more children will follow.

Creative Team

• Rodrigo Blaas (writer, director, animator): A Spanish animator who made the film while working at Pixar.
• Alfonso Blaas and friends: A blog post from the time says the short was a private animation project done in Spain with his brother Alfonso and other friends.
• Nacho Mastretta (composer).
• Raúl Bernabé (producer).

Festival Journey & Recognition

• Palm Springs ShortFest (June 2009): The festival where the film premiered.
• Fantastic Fest (2009): Wikipedia says the film received notable recognition at the Fantastic Fest awards. A writer who sat on that year’s animated-short jury later wrote that they fought hard for Alma. I could not verify the exact award, so describe it as notable recognition.
• L.A. Shorts Fest (2009): Winner, Best Animation.
• Animacor International Animation Festival (2009): Winner, Best Andalusian Short.
• Calgary Underground Film Festival (2010): Winner, Jury Award for Best Animated Short.
• Goya Awards (2010): Nominee, Best Animated Short Film. The winner that year was The Lady and the Reaper.
• Other nominations: Miami Film Festival Grand Jury Prize (shorts) and an ASECAN Award for Best Short Film.

Alma Short Film; One blog from 2010 said it almost won the Goya. The Goya list confirms it as a nominee, not a winner.

The Origin Story

Alma Short Film was made after hours. Blaas created it while working at Pixar. The Hollywood Reporter said he did the short in his spare time while working on his Pixar project, and that late nights paid off with awards. He worked with his brother and friends in Spain, which gives the film a personal, independent feel despite its polished look.

The word “alma” means “soul” in Spanish, and the soul is exactly what is at stake in the story. At the time, Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich reportedly told people how much he liked it, according to one blog.

Visual Style

The film looks like a Pixar short with a dark twist, which is part of its power. A Pixar-style character design, a snowy, cozy European street and warm shop lighting set the audience up for a fairy tale. TV Tropes calls this effect art-style dissonance and notes that cheerful music plays over the horrifying final shot. Short of the Week called it beautiful to watch and very well-crafted as a story. The doll’s repeated, unexplained movements while Alma Short Film looks away create suspense through simple camera tricks, with no dialogue needed.

Key Themes

• Curiosity and its cost. Alma’s innocence draws her into danger.
• Temptation and the lure of the perfect object. The doll that looks exactly like her is bait.
• Identity and the soul. The title and ending both turn on what happens to a person’s self.
• A repeating cycle. The shop’s next display suggests this has happened before and will again.
• Innocence versus menace. Cute design and sinister meaning pull against each other.

Critical Reception

Reception was strong from the start. Fantastic Fest highlighted it in a “short film of the day” spotlight and called it impressive. Short of the Week, GeekTyrant and animation blogs praised its craft, and holiday-themed lists regularly feature it as a creepy Christmas short. Commentary notes that it looks Pixar-quality but is far darker, and one blog joked that Pixar might have been frightened by what its animator might do. Audiences continue to share it every year, and it is a staple of “scary animated shorts” lists.

Where to Watch

• Vimeo: Blaas’s own upload.
• Short of the Week and similar curation sites.
• YouTube: Multiple copies, so look for the original.

Director’s Journey

Rodrigo Blaas is a Spanish animator whose credits include Ice Age and, at Pixar, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E and Up. Alma was his directorial debut.

Its success brought a major opportunity. In October 2010, Blaas was in talks with DreamWorks Animation to turn Alma Short Film into a feature, with Guillermo del Toro as executive producer, and he was also reported to be co-directing del Toro’s Trollhunters. A 2014 article noted the feature was still in development with no theatrical date. I could not verify a release, so describe the feature as announced but unconfirmed.

FAQ

1. Is Alma a Pixar film? No. It was directed by a Pixar animator in his own time.
2. Who directed it? Rodrigo Blaas.
3. What does “Alma” mean? “Soul” in Spanish.
4. How long is it? About five minutes.
5. Is there a feature film? One was announced at DreamWorks with Guillermo del Toro producing, but I could not verify a release.
6. Is it for children? It looks cute, but the ending is frightening, so watch it first before showing young viewers.