The Cloud Maker (2020)

Directed by: Hanna van Niekerk | 7 minutes | animation, short film | Original voice cast: Hugo Fierro, Luna Cruz Perez, Angelique Boering, Ariani Son, Alejandro Pintamalli

Fabiola, a young girl, travels alone by plane from Venezuela to Sint Maarten. It is cloudy and there is some turbulence. The plane hangs in the middle of a cloud, as if the cloud is a platform and the plane is a train. At the airplane door, the passengers crowd and look out in amazement. Someone is waiting for them. He introduces himself as Hipólito. With his magical yellow gloves he makes cloud figures. With the greatest of ease he places a wolf who walks perky over the clouds. The girl is fascinated. Because Hipólito wants to retire, he is looking for a replacement. The pilot of the plane thinks this is a nice challenge, but “Fabiolita” also wants to try it. Hipólito gives both individuals a chance to show what they can do with his gloves, so that he can make the right choice as to who will carry out his important task from now on.

The Spanish spoken ‘The Cloudmaker’ is a very beautiful animation film. The colors splash from the screen, with pink, purple and blue tones. The drawing style is apparently simple, with large areas and often not a lot of details (but the last scenes, in the favelas, then again), but that’s why it’s great that the emotion does come across. The message is clear: happiness is in small things. Like taking the time to enjoy the sky to discover figures in the clouds. Or in being surprised by the beauty of a short film like this one.