Erica Milsom

Pixar inaugurates Pixar SparkShorts, a new initiative that gives filmmakers the opportunity to realize their projects in an "independent" and low-budget manner. The final results are therefore, by style and narration, different from the traditional projects realized by the studio, allowing to explore new territories in the animation sector.

Set in Northern California in the late sixties, So Much Yellow is a short, dramatic film about a young girl and the family road trip that changes her life forever. Inspired by true stories, this film depicts the difficult decision one family makes to institutionalize their young son who has Down syndrome.

Snow Day' is a documentary film about life, death, and skiing that follows a group of senior citizens on their weekly ski trip in the Colorado Rockies. Full of life, but frequently facing profound adversity, these men and women share stories of love, loss, and personal growth which play out in high contrast to the freedom and athleticism they exhibit on the mountain. It's a film about challenge and ability, revealing these seniors in all their complexity: pleasure in companionship and physical activity, impatience with one's own limitations and the failings of others, and the struggle to come to terms with the losses that are intrinsic to a long life.

The story of Pixar's early short films illuminates not only the evolution of the company but also the early days of computer animation, when a small group of artists and scientists shared a single computer in a hallway, and struggled to create emotionally compelling short films.

This Pixar documentary short follows Sarah Vowell, who plays herself as the title character, on why she is a superhero in her own way. (This short piece in included on the 2-Disc DVD for "The Incredibles", which was released in 2005.