Evolution of pollution: SIGGRAPH winning short film "The Beauty" by Pascal Schelbli

At the end of July, the 2020 SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival revealed the winning short films that will be offered to audiences around the world this month as part of a stunning virtual Electronic Theater program. I won the jury prize TheBeauty from the German Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg Animationsinstitut, directed by a student of VFX Pascal Schelbli.

TheBeauty is a poetic journey through a fascinating underwater world, where plastic and nature become one. Where, for a single moment, our worries and guilt about ocean pollution dissolve between eerily beautiful coral reefs and mysterious depths as hybridized sea creatures move through the shadows and sun streaks.

Pascal took the time to answer a few questions for us about the inspirations and production experience that led to his moving film, which also received the VES Award for VFX in a student project, the Animago Award Jury Prize and two Young Director Awards, as well as shortlisting for awards at Interfilm Berlin, Animafest Zagreb and Clermont Ferrand.