Negative Space (2017)

Five and a half minutes of stop motion adapted from a 150-word prose poem by Ron Koertge. A son remembers how his often-absent father taught him to pack a suitcase, the one ritual they truly shared, and the film carries that memory all the way to the father's casket, where the son catches himself thinking his dad would have complained about the wasted space. That flicker of dark humor at the worst moment is exactly how grief often behaves, and few films are brave enough to show it. Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata's film was nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Short, and the directors host it on their official Vimeo channel. It suits anyone mourning a parent they loved without ever quite knowing.