2027 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Monitor’ Director Michael Berardini

Welcome to Cartoon Brew’s spotlight series on animated shorts that have qualified for the 2027 Oscars. Films in this series qualified through one of three routes: winning an Oscar-qualifying award at a film festival, screening theatrically, or winning a Student Academy Award.

Today’s short is Michael Berardini’s Monitor, an independently produced horror film that opened this year’s Annecy Festival and earned a collective gasp from the hundreds in the Bonlieu during its debut screening. It qualified for Oscar consideration through the Fort Worth Film Commission’s 2026 Premiere Package program, becoming the first animated short selected for the initiative.

Drawing on Berardini’s experiences as a father of two, Monitor turns the everyday anxieties of early parenthood into a blood-freezing, supernatural nightmare. The idea began as a storyboarding exercise to create something creepy with an economical setup, then grew into a finished film as he modeled its house and set up the cameras. Beneath the horror are fears familiar to many new parents: that something might happen to their child, that they aren’t doing enough, and that someone is watching and judging.

Cartoon Brew: What was it about this story or concept that connected with you and compelled you to direct the film?

Michael Berardini: I’m a father of two. I’m also a bit of a worry wart. Monitor has a genesis in the early days of being a new dad… the fears, the anxieties, the perceived judgement from others.

I was feeling uninspired on a freelance project, so I decided to give myself a story challenge: board out something creepy in an efficient and manageable way. I had no idea what the story would be, but it started pouring out of me. Turns out tapping into my parental fears was pretty easy.

What did you learn through the experience of making this film, either production-wise, filmmaking-wise, creatively, or about the subject matter?

I had to learn a lot on this film because it was mostly a one-man show! From teaching myself Blender to stumbling my way through the festival circuit, I had to get way out of my comfort zone in a ton of ways.

Technically, animating in 2D within 3D space was a challenge. Near the end of production, I had a pretty confident grasp on my workflow, but each shot felt like a unique obstacle to get there.

Creatively, I struggled with the ending. I kept getting questions about it. I wanted something ambiguous, but it was too ambiguous. Thanks to my wife and an offhand joke, we were able to crack it!

Can you describe how you developed your visual approach to the film? Why did you settle on this style/technique?

I never intended to make a short, but it quickly grew into one when I started modeling the house. I told myself it was just for reference if I ever wanted to finish the boards… then I started laying out the cameras, and within a few days I had the entire short up (sans characters). I had to decide if I was gonna go through with it, but I didn’t want to use off-the-shelf rigs. Which led me to Blender and Grease Pencil. I did a few tests and realized I could draw on top of all my sets, make them look like my illustrations, and most importantly, animate the characters in 2D! At that point, I was full steam ahead, and every stylistic choice was to support the idea of an illustration in 3D.

How did becoming a parent change your relationship with fear, and how did that feed into the film?

I’ve always been fairly anxious, but becoming a parent definitely ratcheted that up. It’s a different kind of fear now. I never thought I would lie awake at night freaking out because my kid has a weird cough. The insane spirals my brain goes through is exactly how we end up with a short like this.

But becoming a parent also changed my taste. I love horror, but some stories I just can’t stomach anymore. I can usually tell if a film is made by a parent or not purely by how the children are treated. That ties into my original ending. It wasn’t gratuitous, but it wasn’t comforting for parents. I had to step back and look at it as a parent myself – what would make me happy?