Bippy the Little Robot, the latest animated film from Seattle filmmaker and composer Glenna Burmer, was selected the winner in the Animation – Short category at this year’s Sacramento Underground Film & Arts Festival.
Burmer’s film about a perky little trashcan named Bippy was selected from a group of seven finalists, representing films from the U. S., China, Korea, Uruguay, Mexico and Iran. The festival – now in its 10th year — was held July 21-24 in Sacramento, California.
The story of Bippy takes place in the future after humans are annihilated; all that remains are broken and forgotten machines. But the bleak landscape does not deter Bippy who sets out with his android-cat sidekick on a journey to find other machines.
In an abandoned music studio, the little robot discovers a broken-down piano where he improvises a jazz piece that awakens a pink toaster named Anna. In a swirling dance sequence using innovative motion capture, Anna and Bippy perform a dreamy pas de deux that personifies the beauty and resilience of the human spirit. As music fills the air, the future, once dismal, grows a little brighter.
A classical composer and award-winning concert and animated-film producer, Burmer’s music and original voice create compelling stories that resonate with audiences worldwide. This is the second animated film Burmer produced in collaboration with Deep Sky & Imaginary Planet. The team’s first joint project, Nana korobi, Ya oki, completed in spring 2021, won more than 60 festival awards worldwide, including the 2021 Seattle Filmmaker Award, and was selected to tour Great Britain in 2022.