El secreto de Ana
2022 · 15m
Directed by Álvaro Lasso de la Vega
Genres: animation, coming-of-age, family
Tones: contemplative, tender, whimsical
Eight-year-old Ana has grown sad and withdrawn; her treehouse gang, helped by a mother-tree, a wise owl and a cheerful dog, gently helps her tell what is happening to her.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A kids' film about processing trauma through talking animals and magic trees—the premise screams saccharine, but Lasso de la Vega trusts the animation to do the heavy lifting instead of leaning on voiceover sentiment, which is exactly the kind of restraint that makes me wrong about dismissing it.
The film positions itself squarely in the European art-animation tradition, particularly in its use of negative space and color to suggest emotional states rather than state them; the treehouse setting recalls both pastoral lineage and contemporary therapeutic storytelling.
The decision to let the *animation itself* carry the disclosure—Ana's body language and the spatial relationship between her and the other characters gradually opens rather than dialogue explaining the trauma—is the craft move that transforms this from PSA into something real.