Tumbleweed
2025 · 7m · France
Directed by Johanna Bouaouiche, Louis Creuzet, Marie Hareux, Wilson Hinh, Arthus Mariet, Masha Moran
Genres: adventure, animation, drama
Hurle, a young woman who dreams of a future beyond the coffee shop where she works to support her mother amidst fields of Arabica beans, has her daily life turned upside down when she pursues an eccentric petty thief.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Gobelins graduation films are technically impeccable and emotionally interchangeable, and this one — coffee shop, dreams of escape, whimsical chase — sounds like the boilerplate. Pretty wallpaper.
A Gobelins graduation piece in the maison's familiar luxe 2D register, with an Arabica-fields backdrop offering a fresher palette than the usual European cityscapes. Technically accomplished, narratively conventional — a strong calling card rather than a statement.
Gobelins graduation films are reliably the cleanest 2D animation work coming out of any school anywhere, and 105K views in eight months tracks that pedigree. Seven minutes of Arabica-field slice-of-life with six co-directors is the format firing on all cylinders.
Reviews
Tumbleweed is the 1st 2025 graduation short film from French Gobelins school, featuring striking 2D computer animation and a charming story of a young woman's pursuit of freedom.
Hurle dreams of a future beyond the coffee shop where she works to support her mother. Her life is disrupted when she goes in pursuit of an eccentric petty thief who will turn her daily life upside down.
Festivals
- BFI London Film Festival 2025