Ice Merchants is a 2022

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by João Gonzalez. The 14-minute short about family love is the first ever Portuguese animation to be awarded at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

, where it premiered as part of the 2022 Critics' Week (''Semaine de la Critique''). The film has been featured in a number of international film festivals, receiving accolades such as the Gold Hugo award for Best Animated Short at the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

and won over nine awards in festivals and a nomination for the

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in the category of

Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...

Plot

Every day, a father and his son jump with a parachute from their house on a cliff to go to the village, where they sell ice. While falling, they always lose their matching hats, and they buy themselves new ones while in town. They then return to their house through the use of a pulley system, where they spend time together and bond. The boy's mother has passed away some time ago, but her presence is still on the mind of the father and son, whether by her unused mug or her empty space in the bed. One morning, the temperature is so warm that there is no ice to sell, and melting snow falls heavily on the house, breaking it away from the cliff. The backpack with the parachute falls away, leaving the father and son stranded. Realizing that they have no chance for survival, the father holds the son tightly and jumps from the collapsing house. On the way down, they are met by a vision of the mother, who holds on to the pair and pulls her own parachute. The father and son miraculously land on the massive pile of hats that have accumulated on the

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below the house and are saved. They walk off to the village, taking a hat for the son along the way.

Reception

Since its release, the film has been selected in various festivals around the world:

References

External links

Official trailer
on

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Ice Merchants
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' at Cannes Critics' Week {{Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject 2022 films 2022 animated short films Best Animated Short Subject Annie Award winners British animated short films French animated short films Portuguese animated short films Animated films about father–son relationships Skydiving in fiction