Quota
2024 · 3m · Netherlands
Directed by Job Roggeveen, Joris Oprins, Marieke Blaauw
Genres: animation, dark comedy, sci-fi
Tones: absurdist, dark, darkly comic, humorous
In a near-future world, every global citizen is mandated to track their CO2 emissions via a government app. Despite the tracking, people continue flying budget airlines, eating meat, and consuming without restraint. When citizens exceed their fixed quota, their heads explode — a darkly comic parable about humanity's indifference to climate action.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Two and a half minutes of exploding heads as climate apathy punchline — Job, Joris & Marieke land their bits. Short enough that it doesn't outlive its joke, which is the whole craft.
Job, Joris & Marieke remain the most reliable practitioners of the explode-the-conceit single-image short — A Single Life is canonical, and the heads-explode-on-quota gag has the same clean comic engineering. Two and a half minutes is the correct duration for this idea.
Two minutes thirty-five of Job, Joris & Marieke's signature clean character animation, with exploding heads as the punchline for CO2 quota overage — that's the studio's specialty: weaponized minimalism. 108K views in ten months on a Job/Joris/Marieke piece is exactly what you'd expect.
Reviews
Only in animation can a short where every single character's head explodes also deliver a deeply prescient message about climate change.
Quota operates on multiple levels: it first charms its audience with energy and style, then quietly leaves you reflecting on why the filmmakers felt compelled to make this short in the first place.
There's a clear message, but it's delivered with such humour and lightness of touch that it never feels forced down your throat.
The delightful Dutch animation team of Job, Joris & Marieke returns with a wickedly funny parable that suggests a rather extreme means of getting people to think about their footprint on this world.
In their latest short film, Oscar-nominated animation studio Job, Joris & Marieke reveal both their passion for tackling the climate crisis and their talent for delivering an important message with style and wit.
charmingly dark animation
Festivals
- Toronto International Film Festival 2024, Honourable Mention, Best International Short Film
- Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2025
- Aspen Shortsfest 2025, Animation Prize
- Zagreb World Festival of Animated Film (Animafest) 2025