Stop-motion filmmaking blends handcrafted artistry with cinematic vision, transforming ordinary materials into living, breathing characters. These stop-motion short films explore memory, identity, longing, and fantasy through richly tactile worlds brought to life by talented filmmakers. Whether it's intricate claymation, poetic puppetry, or hybrid visual storytelling, these selections demonstrate why stop-motion animation remains one of the most compelling and imaginative forms of visual storytelling.
The Burden
Creator: Niki Lindroth von Bahr
In a series of surreal musical vignettes, the anthropomorphic occupants of a dystopian industrial park sing of existentialism, liberation, and longing. Featuring exquisitely designed characters and arresting choreography, The Burden is a bona fide classic that pushes the boundaries of stop-motion storytelling.
Watch “The Burden” now →
Legal Smuggling with Christine Choy
Creator: Tall Glass with Ice (Lewie Kloster and Noah Kloster)
Categories: Documentary, People
This tongue-in-cheek animated documentary follows Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and lovable loudmouth, Christine Choy, as she recounts her experiences smuggling contraband through airport security. With their signature style of wildly inventive mixed media animation, filmmakers Lewie & Noah Kloster perfectly match Choy’s irreverent humor and bring her outrageous true story to life with artful chaos.
Watch “Legal Smuggling with Christine Choy” now →
Les Bêtes
Creator: Michael Granberry
Categories: Animation, Stop Frame
Inspired by the classic puppet animations of Ladislas Starevich, Les Bêtes follows a mysterious rabbit on an enchantingly macabre journey into a wicked king’s lavish court. Offering richly textured visuals and deliciously monstrous themes, this fantastical fever-dream of a film took home the coveted Vimeo Staff Pick Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
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硬币／The Coin
Creator: Siqi Song
Categories: Animation, Stop Frame
As she leaves behind her childhood home in China to start a new life abroad, a girl loses her beloved jar of lucky coins on the journey. In this tenderly crafted meditation on immigration and identity, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Siqi Song elegantly weaves together themes of memory, tradition, and self-discovery with delicate artistry.
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Slow Light
Creator: Kijek / Adamski
Categories: Animation
Born with an unusual condition where his eyesight is delayed by seven years, a young man can only see the past. As he ages, he watches his own life unfurl before him almost as a ghost—struggling to exist in real time. Interweaving laser-cut stop-motion and traditional 2D animation techniques, this meticulously hand-crafted film is a philosophical epic that reminds us all to live in the present.
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Charlotte
Creator: Zach Dorn
Categories: Animation, Stop Frame
When a long-forgotten folk singer discovers that her decades-old song has been remade into a hit pop song, she’s forced to reconcile with how the legacy of her work has impacted her daughter and grandson. Presenting hand-made puppets and original music, Charlotte paints a poignant, multi-generational portrait of a family that’s finally learning to hear one another.
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The Vandal
Creator: Eddie Alcazar, The New Yorker
Categories: Experimental
At once timeless and boldly original, this haunting psychological fable follows a man forced to confront the depths of his love, grief, and trauma. Rendered in striking black and white, and featuring a groundbreaking technique that merges live-action with stop-motion animation, this stylish and mind-bending thriller was named one of Vimeo’s Best of the Year.
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Guaxuma
Creator: Nara Normande, Les Valseurs
Categories: Animation, Stop Frame
In this beautiful and bittersweet film, filmmaker Nara Normande reflects on her unconventional childhood spent in a free-spirited beach town in Brazil. Through a lovely blend of animation styles, Guaxuma recreates her hazy memories of youth, friendship, and unexpected loss with melancholic resonance. A deeply personal and lyrical work, the film earned more than 60 awards on the festival circuit before making its online debut as a Vimeo Staff Pick Premiere.
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Facing It
Creator: Sam Gainsborough
Categories: Animation, Stop Frame
As a young man nervously awaits a meeting in a local pub, he’s pushed to confront the overwhelming weight of his anxiety–leading him on a transformative journey he’ll never forget. Showcasing an expressive mix of claymation and live-action, Facing It offers visceral insight into the inner turmoil of those longing to connect with the world around them.
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To the Dusty Sea
Creator: Héloïse Ferlay
Categories: Animation, Stop Frame
Left to their own devices on a sweltering summer day, a pair of young siblings try their very best to catch the eye of their overwhelmed mother. Told with endless empathy and exquisite visual detail, To the Dusty Sea is a compassionate and contemplative tale of a family learning to rely on one another in the face of emotional uncertainty.
Watch “To the Dusty Sea” now →
Vimeo is your destination for stop-motion animation artistry
Vimeo is a treasure trove for fans of stop-motion, offering everything from poetic fables to irreverent autobiographical sketches crafted through claymation and intricate puppetry. These films prove that stop-motion animation is more than just a technique; it's a storytelling superpower that captures emotion, movement, and metaphor in ways few other formats can. Whether you're a filmmaker, an animation lover, or simply curious about visually rich tales, these stop-motion films are not to be missed. Dive into this curated collection and discover how the tactile world of handcrafted cinema continues to reshape how we experience narrative.
