FOLLOW YOUR HEART
...it's a hard-won happiness borne of struggle, experience and time.
Mary lives in a world where people's hearts live on the outside of their bodies and act like pets, which they love and bond with. These "hearts" reflect their owners, but they can also be easily lost in the fray of life.
When Mary suffers a romantic disappointment, her heart begins to languish, and both become despondent and lose their zest for life. In the lowest of her doldrums, Mary loses her heart, making life flat and dull.
But Mary begins to find her way back by reconnecting to life, and is soon reunited with the most valuable part of herself -- which too has been on its own journey, and in search of its own happy ending.
Director Rob O'Neill's charming, timeless animated short -- written by Michelle Cuevas and produced by Josh Ludmir --
takes advantage of the genre's ability to develop flights of fancy into deeply affecting and lovely storytelling, beguiling with unique detail while offering a lesson in emotional intelligence.