Elephants Dream

Elephants Dream is a short film about two people who have different visions of the surreal world in which they live. The film is a milestone in open source CG animation production. It was the first CG animated short made in a team-based environment that was produced almost completely with free tools, received a wide distribution around the world and made the source files of the production available to the public.

Created as part of the first Open Movie Project, an idea conceived by Ton Rosendaal for improving the capabilities of the open source 3D animation software Blender, Elephants Dream presents a highly subjective narrative in which staging is used to express the internal world of the characters.

A stylized, surreal aesthetic mixes futuristic and retro elements. The short focuses on the relationship between two main characters and their interaction. One of them tries to explain the beauties of the world he imagines to the other and conflict surfaces when the second character grows skeptical and ends up not accepting the ideas. The first one reacts desperately, trying to impose them. Bassam Kurdali, director of Elephants Dream, states that the story is a parable of human relationships, and that it hints at how it is better to share ideas than force them on others.