What if the end of the world was imminent, and you were tasked with collecting the most important names, faces and incidents that make up Earth’s history?
That is the premise of Bernardo Britto’s stunning, Sundance-winning short film “Yearbook,” in which a man in a mundane job must decide what parts of humanity have been important enough to survive annihilation, and what not.
The short, which earned a spot on our list of favorite short films of 2014 won the Jury Prize for Animation at Sundance 2014 and then went on to play at festivals around the world. It is now a part of The New Yorker’s first season of short films. In an interview with Filmmaker Magazine, Britto explained that the inspiration behind the short came as a result of his own feelings of futility when it comes to art.
“It didn’t mean anything, and people would just forget about it,” Britto said. “How do you deal with making things people won’t remember 100, 200, 300 years from now?”
The resulting short, which is narrated by Britto himself, is not only fraught with socio-political significance, but also incredibly emotional and leaves any viewer frustrated with the hopelessness of life with surprising inspiration.
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