One Small Step

One Small Step (2018) is an animated short you can watch online on iFILM. In eight wordless minutes it follows Luna, a Chinese-American girl who has wanted to reach space since she was small.

Luna grows up in a big city with her father, Chu, who mends shoes out of a tiny garage workshop and quietly backs every dream she chases. The path to a spacesuit turns out to be long: failed tests, rejections, years of grinding away. Her dad stays in her corner the whole time, even in the stretches when she stops noticing. The film leans on one simple feeling between two people rather than on plot.

Directors Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas built it at TAIKO Studios, and the short made the Academy Award shortlist for Best Animated Short. A warm, quiet piece that leaves you wanting to call a parent. Stream One Small Step (2018) online on iFILM.