Snow Bear


Snow Bear is a 2025 American animated short film written and directed by Aaron Blaise. The 11-minute wordless animated film following the life of a lonely polar bear was selected in various international film festivals, including the Annecy Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival and Animafest Zagreb. The film was entirely animated by Aaron Blaise himself over the span of three years.
Snow Bear is currently available to watch on Blaise's YouTube channel.
It was shortlisted for the 98th Academy Awards in the category of Best Animated Short Film.

Plot

Told without dialogue, a lonely male polar bear named Glen lives in the unforgivable ice floe of the Arctic. Unable to make friends, he decides to create his own out of snow, and spends time with it - watching the aurora borealis with it, playing hide-and-seek with it, eating seals with it, sliding with it and imitating the nearby walruses with it.
One morning, the snow-made bear starts melting. Glen tries to save it, but sadly can't do anything. Eventually, after mourning the loss of his "friend", he discovers an Arctic island with a lot of green grass. While exploring, Glen discovers another snow-made bear, and is surprised to discover that it was made by a female polar bear named Luma. The two become mates and make another snow bear to be Luma’s snow bear's friend.
Soon after, Glen and Luma play games with each other and have two cubs together who learn how to build snow sculptures of all the Arctic animals.

Accolades

Since its release, the film has been selected in various festivals around the world:
YearFestivalsAward/CategoryStatus
2025Annecy International Animation Film FestivalYoung Audience Award
2025Cleveland International Film FestivalBest Family Short Audience Choice AwardWon
2025Animafest ZagrebBest Film for Children and YouthWon
2025El Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara Rigo Mora Prize
2025Hollyshorts Film FestivalBest Animated Short
2025Tribeca Film FestivalBest Animated Short
2025San Francisco Film FestivalFamily Short Award
2025Santa Fe International Film FestivalBest Animated Short Jury AwardWon
2025Jackson WildPlanet in Crisis Award - Short FormWon
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