A finalist at the inaugural Indy Shorts International Film Festival, One Small Step is an absolutely lovely eight-minute animated short about an ambitious young girl who aspires to be an astronaut with the support of her humble father. Co-directed by Bobby Pontillas and Andrew Chesworth, One Small Step comes out of TAIKO Studios, a company founded in 2017 by CEO Shaofu Zhang with offices in Los Angeles and Wuhan, China. 

It's precisely the ability of Pontillas and Chesworth to bridge both eastern and western cultures that turns One Small Step into such an incredibly heartwarming, emotionally resonant film and easily one of the best animated shorts of 2018. 

Pontillas is an experienced art director who has worked on productions at Disney and Blue Sky, while Chesworth also spent years animating for Disney and together they've managed to create a film that feels like it could have easily come out of Pixar. 

One Small Step will screen twice during Indy Shorts as part of the Finalist 1 Collection:

• Friday, July 27th at 7pm - DeBoest Lecture Hall at Newfields
• Saturday, July 28th at 12:45pm - The Toby at Newfields

For information on ticketing, visit the Indy Shorts website. 

© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic