In 2003, Oscar-nominated Aaron Blaise’s hand-drawn animated feature film “Brother Bear” hit theaters. 22 years later, and Blaise is back with the hand-drawn short film “Snow Bear,” which is already going viral on YouTube. This is wonderful news considering the entire project is being done to support Polar Bears International and the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA).
“Snow Bear”
This 11-minute animated film tells the story of a lonely polar bear who is desperately seeking companionship. When several attempts to buddy up to whales, birds, and other creatures fail, he makes a friend out of snow. The two romp around and have a fantastic time until one day the bear wakes up and finds his friend melting in the hot sun. They take shelter under some ice, which soon snaps off from the rest of the island they inhabit.
The bear is left with a choice: abandon his snow bear friend, or drift along with them and possibly face starvation. He chooses the latter only to have his companion and the chunk of ice they are floating on slowly melt away.
He awakens on a new island with rapidly melting snow. After exploring for a while, he comes across the unthinkable: another snow bear. He runs to greet his old melting friend, only to find the polar bear that created it! The two polar bears blend their snow bears together before frolicking off.
The short is described as a story about “empathy, nature, family, and the rapidly changing Arctic.” With everything ending on a message about global climate change’s devastating effects on the Arctic and polar bears.
“Snow Bear” is written by Blaise and Nicholas Burch. Blaise also directed and animated the entire short. A herculean task that took over 3 years to accomplish and created over 11,000 traditional drawings!
You can check out Blaise’s short film “Snow Bear” below. And if you can’t get enough of these adorable bears, Blaise has launched a Kickstarter for a card game based on the characters.
