Little t

A wonderfully animated short with incredible depth and heart, Little t tells the story of Alexis, an interior designer with clear talent but who struggles to see it herself due to almost crippling self-criticism, self-doubt and a need for perfection. On the day of her big interview for what hopes to be the launch of her post-grad career, Alexis, accompanied by her “inner critic” and her “inner child”, must confront the root cause of her anxieties and finally find that conviction and strength buried deep within herself.

Little t isn’t a story that speaks purely to creatives, it's one that will undoubtedly resonate just as loudly and clearly to all of us. Exploring trauma, anxiety, hope and much, much more in just over six minutes, by drawing on her own experiences, writer/director Masha Ellsworth’s film taps into what are and always will be extremely universal human sentiments.

At the forefront is the animation, every bit as dynamic and full of life as you hope it would be, and indeed would expect from a short film collaborated on by a plethora of accomplished animators coming together from the likes of Pixar, Netflix, Dreamworks and more. Characters not only seem to jump off the screen, but are given so much emotion and expression as to make them positively tangible, which in turn translates into not just bringing the film to life, but creating a beautiful world for us to enter into.

And Ellsworth, themselves a lead technical director at Pixar, showcases the kind of talent that continues to make that studio shine time and time again, with an inimitable ability for heart-felt storytelling not just through their words but through their wonderful imagination as well. Because what truly impresses about Little t is its simplicity but yet its depth, putting across so much so eloquently in such a short amount of time so succinctly. It’s about exploring the crutches we lean on when things get too hard, but then also about how each of us live with these inner voices day after day that can either lift us up or pull us down, sometimes simultaneously. It’s about trauma and the marks that leaves behind, a topic it particularly handles with incredible sensitivity and consideration. And finally, it’s about how we deal with all of that, and find the strength to take back control and persevere.

Little t is a remarkably deep, very human, wholehearted and inspiring short film that those who struggle with that critical little voice in their head will find a lot of comfort and empathy in, and also one that aspiring filmmakers would do well to learn from.