The polar bear, known as Ursus Maritimus or sea bear has become one of the most recognised symbols of climate change as a result of their natural habitat, the Arctic drastically melting away and sea levels rising as a consequence. With estimations placing the number of polar bears at 26,000 worldwide, the risk of this number dwindling further persists. Alongside climate change, other contributing factors impacting the polar bear’s existence include – commercial activities, conflicts with people, pollution, disease, inadequate habitat protection and the potantial for over-harvest in smaller or declining polar bear populations (Polar Bears International). An exploration of this disheartening reality, Disney animator, writer and director Aaron Blaise presents Oscar 2026 Qualifying short film Snow Bear, a literal, as well as metaphorical tale about a lonely polar bear’s search for connection amid crisis.
Hi Aaron, your animated short film Snow Bear is officially Oscars 2026 qualified. How are you feeling?
To be honest it’s a tad odd and exciting all at the same time. I’ve been living with the film from idea to completion for over 9 years. The first 6 of those were mostly in my mind where I was shaping the story and doing the occasional drawing. But, for the past 3 years I was in full on production mode. I was at my desk drawing and animating 5 days a week on it, 40 hours or more. That’s over 11,000 drawings. So now to have it out in the world is almost like seeing one of my kids go off to college or something. I am both proud and nervous all at the same time.
Snow Bear tells the story of a lonely bear navigating a rapidly changing Arctic in search of connection. What inspired you to explore this narrative further?
There is a lot to unpack here. The initial inspiration was that I wanted to get back into hand drawn, animated filmmaking. My background is as a Disney trained animator and director and so I have always loved the artform and I never tire of the magic that happens when I play my drawings back and see them come to life for the first time! As an artist I find it to be such a rewarding experience.
As a filmmaker, it was always a dream of mine to create my own short and my passion is drawing animals so I knew it had to be animal based. So, I thought I would do something “simple” like a polar bear in the arctic… how wrong that notion turned out to be! Not only is the environment completely more diverse and dramatic than you might initially think, but polar bears are sort of the de facto symbols of climate change because the changes to their ecosystem are so plainly visible. Those things worked their way into the themes of the film.
And finally there is the story itself. Polar bears are these big, massive carnivores that seem ferocious and yet they lead this very solitary life. Our lonely bear is very much a stand in for many of the things I have experienced in my life. Unfortunately, my wife of 20 years, Karen passed away due to illness and I experienced an overwhelming sense of hopelessness during that time watching her melt away. I felt very much adrift and alone… there were times when I did not want to go on.
BUT, ultimately I did find my way back. I rediscovered hope and companionship. My art and desire to create propelled me forward until ultimately it took me down a path where I found love again and met my wife Vedanta. My hope is that this film will remind the audience that while we will all feel alone at times there is hope on the horizon as long as we persist and make it to that next sunrise.
The film is a 2D animation which took you over 3 years to hand draw and animate. This understandably takes precision and a lot of patience to ensure you were happy with the final edit. How did you approach this part of the process?
One of the amazing things about animation is that we do the edit before the actual animation. We work and re-work the storyboards down to the second before we ever put a shot into production. This is a process that Walt Disney pioneered and it is a process that I very much believe in. Even though this film is just a short, I applied that same process to Snow Bear. Therefore, by the time I set down to animate I had a very clear roadmap of where I needed to go. Beyond that, being a successful animator really is about acting, drawing ability and also it’s about “pencil mileage”. It very much requires you to keep your butt in the chair and chip away line by line, drawing by drawing. You just have to be very disciplined and trust that you will get there eventually even when it feels like such a long way off.
The film fuses your eye for detail with Grammy Award winning composer Mark Mancina’s powerful compositions. How did you work together to realise the film?
Mark is a big time composer and Snow Bear is this tiny little film. I am very fortunate that while I was at Disney I had the chance to work with Mark so I had a history with him. But, I had lost touch and we hadn’t really spoken in about 20 years. When I finished the story reel I was able to track down his contact info via a mutual friend and much to my shock when I sent it to him, he and his co-composer Marlon Espino got back to me in about 30 minutes and said they loved the story and they wanted to do it! The problem was that they had no idea when they would find the time because they were knee deep in the middle of scoring Mufasa, Moana 2 and Juror #2 by Clint Eastwood. I also had no idea how to pay for it because our little short is 100% self-financed and I do not have the resources of a big studio.
But, I am happy to say that we were able to work out those logistics and working with Mark & Marlon could not have gone better. They are clearly true pros and their initial demo tracks were spot on. They are also very experienced working with directors so it was a pleasure seeing how they were able to find a musical theme that matched my vision. In the end the recording was done by about 25 symphony players right in Mark’s studio/house. He had wires criss-crossing his living room and woodwinds setting up in his kitchen…but the result could not have been better!!
What have you learned/taken away from creating the film?
There is so much that I learned. Much more than I could possibly list here but, what I am super thankful for is that by making Snow Bear I learned that I can produce a 2D Animated film at a quality level I am proud of on a budget that is super reasonable. Snow Bear has reignited my love and passion for hand drawn animation and I am happy to say that as a result I now have more projects in the works!
What can audiences expect from the film?
Hopefully, they can expect to experience a full range of emotions. I definitely want them to laugh but I also want to make them cry. I’ve heard from quite a few people that they needed tissues on hand so I guess I did my job.
What would you like for audiences to take away from the film?
Ultimately, I hope that Snow Bear can make the audiences pause and reflect on our role as stewards of the planet for future generations as well as our fellow earthlings – the animals with which we share this beautiful world. I think as artists it is our job to help put some beauty back into the world and inspire empathy. If they are so inspired then I hope that they learn more about Polar Bears International who are doing amazing work to help protect bears and sea ice.
Interview by Lucy Basaba.
To find out more about Snow Bear, visit here…
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