Madeline Sharafian-directed Burrow is an amazingly cute take on the idea of seeking a home and being part of a community to solve problems pertaining to them all.
The short is centred on a rabbit who makes a burrow, only to be visited by two neighbours, a mole and a rat, whose larger homes make him ashamed and scared - and the bunny ends up digging all the way down, uncovering even larger and grander homes, fuelling his shame - till he ends up all the way down and accidentally breaks the foundation of the land.
And what better way to fix a problem that concerns everyone than for everyone involved to work together? In a typical world, the one who created the problem would be chastised for their actions, but here, everyone works together to literally dig a solution to the problem they're facing, and the bunny finally manages to overcome his shell and takes the help provided by his kindly neighbours.
Burrow's art style is an amazingly cute 2D hand-drawn animation, with vibrant colours to represent life in the burrows and an aptly dark and drab colour palette to represent the watery foundation. The characters are all amazingly wonderful, even the bunny, though none speak a word and merely show their emotion through action. Needless to say, it is one of the strongest Oscars contenders for animated shorts this year.
Burrow is one of five animated shorts nominated for the 93rd Academy Awards. It is available to stream on BookMyShow through ShortsTV.