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February 9, 2023

Join Us March 18, 2023 in NYC for the Premiere of Azúcar

  • Posted By : Joshua Gunn/
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We’ve been patient. You’ve been patient. And now, Azúcar is finally coming to the big screen! 

We’re excited to announce that Azúcar will premiere at the Socially Relevant Film Festival New York. Now in its 10th year, and with thousands of attendees, SRFF is the perfect venue for Azúcar, with films from around the world that promote awareness of social issues. 

The festival kicks off on March 16th, with a red carpet and reception at Lincoln Center. Azúcar will headline a collection of shorts on March 18th at 1PM at the Cinema Village in Midtown, followed by a Q&A with us, the filmmakers. You can purchase tickets to the festival and events at FilmFreeway.

If you’re in the area, we would love to see you, and the organizers of SRFF would love your support. Early-bird tickets are available for a limited time. 

And if you can’t make it to NYC, we’ve also been selected for the LA Latinx Film Festival. We’ll have more details on that soon…

What is Azúcar?

Azúcar is an animated short film about a boy and his mother. 

Ana and Marcelo have traveled 1500 miles from Honduras to the U.S. border. Tonight is the night they will attempt to cross the Rio Grande.

During the crossing we will learn why they have come so far, and endured so much, to get here. We will also see them face their greatest challenge of the journey.

Ana and Marcelo arrive at the riverbank carrying little more than hope, resilience, and a few packets of sugar—azúcar—to keep them going. But will their hope and resilience survive the night? 

Azúcar was made with the generous support of executive producer George Bard. The Planet Nutshell team worked on the story, design, and animation in-between client work during the pandemic. The story is based on interviews, as well as the personal experiences of our art director, Jen Sanchez, whose family is from Colombia. 

Why Did We Make Azúcar, and What’s Next?

Azúcar is essentially a proof of concept. We wanted to prove to ourselves, and to our audience, that we could make a narrative short that tells an authentic, impactful story. If you know us, then you know that every frame is drawn with our hearts, and our personal stories. 

Azúcar is the first episode of a series of stories about human migration around the globe. In this time of war and climate change, people are on the move in unprecedented numbers. The movement of humans is challenging our ideas of national and ethnic identity, as well as our faith in, and adherence to, the notions democracy and freedom. 

The ultimate goal is to create stories that reveal our shared humanity, and thereby move us all to a better place.

If you’d like to join us in our efforts and support this series, please contact us. 


December 12, 2022

Azúcar Screens in São Paulo and Barcelona

  • Posted By : Joshua Gunn/
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This just in: Our short film, Azúcar, has been selected for screening in Barcelona and São Paulo at the Barcelona Human Rights Festival and Human Rights Festival Brazil. Congratulations to all who supported and worked so hard on this.


June 2, 2022

Behind the Scenes: Live Action Productions

  • Posted By : Joshua Gunn/
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While animation is our bread and butter at Planet Nutshell, we have done a number of live action projects over the past few years. Often, these productions combine film with animation in interesting ways, as well.

We have been lucky enough to collaborate with some fabulous live-action producers, including the very talented folks at True Life Media. Meanwhile, our producer, Sam, gets to employ his deep background in live action production; one of his rare talents is creating detailed call sheets so that our shoot days stay on track.


Smooooth sailing: A call sheet for one of our recent shoot days.

Shoot days are a flurry of activity: Setting up locations and lighting, filming b-roll footage, filming interviews, and more. They are carefully scheduled so we can maximize our time and get as much quality footage as possible for a given budget, as we did at a recent shoot at Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

Meanwhile, our internal team is often hard at work on storyboarding and designing all the animated sequences for our hybrid live action/animation projects. Here’s a glimpse into the editing process, combining the animation and live-action for a recent project for Health Leads.

Bringing live action and animation clips together is the final step.

We’ve had a blast creating live action productions for our clients. Here’s a look at just a few of our favorites so far:

Health Leads: Community Referral Networks

(Live action footage by True Life Media)

LightForce Orthodontics

(Live action footage by Bagamor Media)

Alloy Therapeutics: Hello World

(Live action footage by Bagamor Media)

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Latest Entries
  • Join Us March 18, 2023 in NYC for the Premiere of Azúcar February 9,2023
  • Azúcar Screens in São Paulo and Barcelona December 12,2022
  • Another Year, Another Stellar List of Projects December 6,2022
  • Project Breakdown: Design Squad Latinx November 3,2022
  • Project Breakdown: The Phoenix October 17,2022
  • Project Breakdown: UEN Graphics Package July 22,2022
  • Meet Our New Team Members July 13,2022
  • Behind the Scenes: Live Action Productions June 2,2022
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