Watch PICK YOUR POISON, a stunning animated short film by Zoe Duong Pham. A thought-provoking story about the difficult choices we make & their consequences.
🎭 PICK YOUR POISON — Animated Short Film by Zoe Duong Pham
A love story that starts like a sugar rush and ends like a slow‑acting venom, PICK YOUR POISON is a 5‑minute, 47‑second burst of color, rhythm, and emotional whiplash. In Zoe Duong Pham’s hands, romance becomes a surreal battlefield where words fail, thoughts scream, and the heart learns the cost of its own cravings, selecting in European Film Academy.
🧭 Overview
Genre: 2D Animated Narrative 🎨
Director, Writer, Animator: Zoe Duong Pham
Music: Matt Perius 🎼
Sound Design: Zoe Duong Pham & Dylan Smith
Sound Mixing: Dylan Smith
Runtime: 5:47 minutes
Year: 2020
Countries: USA 🇺🇸 / Vietnam 🇻🇳 (artist’s heritage)
Best Animated Short Film — Dreamachine International Film Festival 2020
Student Experimental Short Silver Award — Los Angeles Animation Festival 2020
Best Color Design — Animation Celebration Fest 2021
Best Animated Film, Undergraduate Faculty Judges’ Award, July’s Honorable Mentions — DePaul Premiere Film Festival 2021
Watch full short:
📖 Story in Brief
Two people fall madly, recklessly in love 💘. Their world becomes a sealed “love bubble” — a private, intoxicating space where everything feels heightened. But bubbles are fragile.
When it bursts, the air is thick with unspoken thoughts. Their minds — raw, loud, and unfiltered — start speaking louder than their mouths. What was once sweet turns sharp. The film doesn’t just show a breakup; it lets you hear the inner monologues that lovers rarely admit out loud.
🎨 Creative DNA & Style
Color as emotion: Saturated palettes shift with the relationship’s mood — from warm, honey‑like tones to acidic, toxic hues.
Fluid 2D animation: Movements stretch, warp, and snap, mirroring the instability of love under pressure.
Surreal visual metaphors: Hearts morph into dangerous objects, kisses dissolve into smoke, and thoughts spill out as animated shapes.
Sound as a second narrator: The mix of Matt Perius’s score and layered sound design creates a push‑pull between romance and rupture.
Experimental pacing: Quick cuts in the “falling in love” phase, lingering shots in the “falling apart” phase — a rhythm that mirrors emotional time.
✅ Pros & ❌ Cons
Pros
🌈 Bold color storytelling — every shade has a purpose.
🧠 Psychological honesty — inner voices are messy, contradictory, and painfully real.
🏆 Festival‑proven craft — multiple awards for animation and design.
🎭 Universal arc — anyone who’s loved and lost will feel the sting.
Cons
⏳ Short runtime — leaves you wanting more world‑building.
🎢 Emotional whiplash — the tonal shift is abrupt (though intentionally so).
🌟 Themes & Resonance
Love as addiction: The title hints at romance as both pleasure and poison.
Communication breakdown: How silence and overthinking can corrode intimacy.
The mind‑heart split: The war between what we feel and what we say.
Ephemeral beauty: The fragility of perfect moments.
👥 Who Is It For?
Fans of experimental romance animation like World of Tomorrow or My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea.
Viewers who appreciate emotional honesty wrapped in surreal visuals.
Animation students looking for color design inspiration.
💡 Humanized Takeaway
PICK YOUR POISON is a shot glass of love — sweet going down, burning after. Zoe Duong Pham distills the rush and the wreckage of intimacy into a sensory cocktail that lingers long after the credits. It’s a reminder that the same thing that makes your heart race can also make it ache.