Ethan Shapanka

A timid magazine photo manager who lives life vicariously through daydreams embarks on a true-life adventure when a negative goes missing.

Four everyday suburban guys come together as an excuse to escape their humdrum lives one night a week. But when they accidentally discover that their town has become overrun with aliens posing as ordinary suburbanites, they have no choice but to save their neighborhood – and the world – from total extermination.

Peppermint Spiral follows Angel, a high schooler confronting an intimidating, ghastly creature while facing his family’s high academic expectations. As the pressure becomes overwhelming, Angel starts a dangerous path towards relief, rather than asking his loved ones for help.

Many of our Toronto students have experienced being new at some point: They’ve moved to new schools, new neighbourhoods, and even new countries. They created a story about the difficulties of trying to fit into a new environment while still being true to yourself. By exaggerating the experience for comedic effect, their film puts viewers in their shoes, and shows how overwhelming it can be to be the new kid.

This skillfully constructed animation focuses on how a social media influencer realizes the importance of taking care of the environment when her search for fame quite literally puts her world at stake. This short was animated by Exceptional Minds, an academy and studio dedicated to preparing artists on the autism spectrum for careers in animation and the digital arts.

A loving father faces different obstacles in a desperate attempt to attend his daughter’s championship volleyball game.