Bippy the Little Robot, the newest animated short film from Glenna Burmer, went to Hollywood and proclaimed it “a blast!”
The animated tale of a perky little trashcan named Bippy was screened April 3 with 13 other animated short films as part of the Beverly Hills Film Festival. Screenings were at the famous TCL Chinese Theatres, more commonly known as Grauman’s Chinese Theater — a movie palace on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Watch the Bippy trailer here.
This year, the Beverly Hills Film Festival celebrates a quarter-century of indie storytelling. As one of the most exclusive and influential film festivals in the country, it welcomes hundreds of new and established filmmakers who come to network, learn and celebrate their craft.
“Being selected by the BHFF was a true honor,” said filmmaker Burmer. “Many of the films we saw were real-life experiences that filmmakers turned into movies as a way of sharing a profound truth. The films themselves were masterpieces of production, with strong messages and bold storytelling.”
The logistics of staging the five-day film festival were complicated. “The films were shown in multiple theaters, with multiple, often overlapping, two-hour blocks per day over a five-day period,” said Burmer. “The sheer scale was overwhelming and impressive.”
Burmer was accompanied at the festival by her son Mark. “For us, it was a once-in a lifetime event,” she said. “We were among many international filmmakers who flew in from around the world just to premiere their movies. The award gala on the final evening was a star-studded event, with hundreds of filmmakers, screenwriters, actors, directors, producers, composers, and friends and family.”
The story of Bippy the Little Robot takes place in the future after humans have been annihilated; all that remains are broken and forgotten machines. But the bleak landscape does not deter Bippy, a perky little trashcan, who sets out with his android-cat sidekick on a journey to find if other machines still exist.
This is the second animated film produced by Glenna Burmer in collaboration with Deep Sky & Imaginary Planet. The team’s first joint project, Nana korobi, Ya oki, completed in spring 2021, won more than fifty festival awards worldwide.