‘Pebbles’: A Short Film About The Small Ways Some People Make A Big Difference

There is something about Nathania Zaini’s Pebbles that is serenely familiar. Perhaps it’s the clean, yet distinct animation style, or the cool, comforting voice of the narrator, reassuring the viewer that the main character will make it through her hospital stay. This short film, a submission to the first film festival of the media site Incluvie, was the first film I caught and has left the longest-lasting impression. Pebbles tells the story of a fairly ordinary hospital visit that takes place in an extraordinary time, during the 2020 global outbreak of COVID-19.

The gently paced short film juxtaposes the intense but fleeting pain of kidney stones, the size of little pebbles, with the daily struggle of nurses, who constantly care for others, even to their own detriment. It’s a love letter to these nurses, and it requires an impressive ability to look outside of oneself to see the struggles of others. Incluvie is nothing if not celebrating the emergence of characters who are typically relegated to the background, and there is a lot of power in naming and picturing each nurse in the animation.

The animation itself deserves a shoutout; the lines are in many ways rudimentary and the colors somewhat dull, yet these elements serve perfectly to fit the stillness of the overall film. Nathania Zaini is an incredibly talented animator and her aesthetic is made very distinct from this film alone. I look forward to seeing more of what this young filmmaker has to offer!

Check out Pebbles and the other Incluvie festival films Here!