El día de los muertos
2013 · 3m · Estados Unidos
Directed by Ashley Graham, Kate Reynolds, Lindsey St. Pierre
Genres: animation, comedy, fantasy
A young girl discovers the true meaning of the Day of the Dead. Her discovery unfolds during the celebration.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The premise reads like every other 'child learns the real meaning of' film—sincere, expected, the kind of thing that plays well at family screenings and does nothing to disturb the water.
Three directors collaborating on a 3-minute animated meditation on Day of the Dead ritual; the formal restraint and mythic tone suggest familiarity with the visual language of Mexican folk tradition, though the execution would need to justify the co-directing choice.
The whimsy-to-myth tonal pivot is what matters here—some micro-decision in the animation, a color choice or a specific moment of visual transformation, likely carries the weight of making a familiar story feel earned rather than sentimental.