Anna Baumgarten's last film, Disfluency, was a film that snuck up on me with its power and emotional impact. It seemed to linger, deservedly so, in the world forever with a successful festival run and subsequent indie distribution. I'm not sure it ever found as wide an audience as it deserved, but the story about a young woman (Libe Barer) and her experience with PTSD after a college assault is a story that still sticks with me.
So, when I saw Baumgarten's name set to arrive at the 2026 Indy Shorts International Film Festival, I knew I'd be making checking out the 7-minute short film Balloon Animals a priority.
Balloon Animals is both different and very much the same from Disfluency, humor is a little more abundant yet the film, like Disfluency, finds its emotional core in the quietly swaggering weirdness of life, imperfect friendships, and the unexpected moments of human connection that can help us move forward.
The film is set within the late-night dimness of a soon-to-be closed grocery with two employees, sublimely captured by Angela Giarratana and Izzi Rojas, mind-numbingly yet endearingly playing a game of Marry, Fuck, Kill with cartoon characters and Meryl Streep characters.
Admit it. You've done it.
You can tell that they're winding down the minutes until closing time when in walks a woman (Kelsi Roberts) who wants some balloons.
Balloon Animals is a beautiful film. It's beautiful to look at. It's beautiful to listen to. It's characters are beautiful people, ordinary souls caught up in the wacky extraordinariness of everyday life. Giarratana and Rojas capture the kind of young women we likely encounter everyday of our lives, weird-ass workplace friends who will likely move on within the next few months and never look back. They're in that point in their lives when it's "in the moment," and it's in this moment that we gain a deep appreciation for who they are in their weirdness and wonderfulness.
As someone who has lost my entire family and had cancer a couple times in the past five years, I've come to appreciate these little moments of connection. They are both exhilarating and enough to reduce me to tears. The same happened for me as I was watching Balloon Animals.
Similarly, Kelsi Roberts is absolutely perfect in a role that is best left undescribed so you can enjoy it for yourself. It's a meaningful encounter we're having here, but it's not too meaningful. It's light. It's real. It's odd. Set amidst the industrial lighting and late-night darkness of this likely suburban grocery, this story really comes vividly to life and Kelsi Roberts really drives it all home.
Balloon Animals was a nominee for the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at Sundance earlier this year. Like everything Baumgarten creates, it deserves to be seen far and wide. Lensing by Sevag Chahinian is inspired, a slightly off-kilter blending of humor and humanity set within the kaleidoscopic tapestry of life. The visuals alone would make Balloon Animals worth watching, but this is also terrific storytelling with an equally terrific ensemble.
Baumgarten has become quite the truth-teller. Balloon Animals continues her cinematic tendencies toward uncommon tenderness. This is a beautiful film. I hope you get the chance to check it out for yourself.
Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic
