Disney+ to Showcase Bright Sparks

Disney+ will debut two new shorts in its Pixar Animation Studios’ SparkShorts programme in September, along with a movie-length documentary that goes behind the filmmaking scenes.

SparkShorts filmmakers are given six months to assemble a team and create a short animated film.

Essentially, there are no rules — filmmakers are driven by their need to tell a story and the nimble approach to do so.

Each, teamed with a producer, navigates the emotional rollercoaster of stepping into a leadership role and inspiring their crew.

First up will be the hand-drawn Twenty Something from director Aphton Corbin, who worked on Soul with director Pete Docter, and Nona from director Louis Gonzales.

The former is a story about the insecurities of adulting, from the perspective of a 21-year-old on the night of her birthday, and how we’re all just faking it till we make it.

Nona is named after a grandmother who plans to spend her day off watching her favourite TV wrestling show — only to wind up wrestling with the demands of her young granddaughter after the five-year-old is unexpectedly dropped off.

Both Corbin and Gonzales are under the spotlight in A Spark Story, which explores the creative philosophy that makes Pixar unique.

Corbin’s film required novel approaches to storytelling to convey one character’s multiple perspective — all using hand-drawn animation (a rarity for Pixar).

Gonzales’ Nona came from an intensely personal place that didn’t stop a bad bout of writer’s block from nearly derailing the production.

The shorts will stream from September 17 and the documentary from September 24.