Young Estonian Sander Joon’s animated film easily qualifies as a recent 'festival hit', with more than 100 screenings at international festivals and over 20 awards last year alone. Behind its clean and sometimes surrealistic style hides a well-nuanced family chronicle.

With its bright and vibrant animation, Sierra captures the microaggression that is undeniably present in any parent-child relationship, but does so with mutual respect and fascination for both sides of the story. “Moreover, the dialogue here is entirely physical, as bodies, hands and heads twist, swirl and touch each other with a dynamic that is at once savage and beautiful to behold,” writes Savina Petkova.

Read more on the film via Talking Shorts.