Children and Tree

Children and Tree (Lapsed ja puu, 1965) is a short Estonian animated film you can watch online on iFILM. Beside a grey concrete apartment block, a tiny sapling pushes up out of the ground. The kids from the yard adopt it, watering the little tree and keeping it alive.

Then a bully turns up and tries to snap the thin trunk in two. Their small act of care becomes a small act of defense. Nine minutes, no dialogue, and yet it says plenty about looking after fragile things and how a shared cause grows from nothing. It was directed by Elbert Tuganov, a founding figure of Estonian puppet animation at the Tallinnfilm studio. A gentle short for family viewing. Stream Children and Tree (1965) online on iFILM.