Trailer for Blender’s New Open Source Film ‘Cosmos Laundromat’

Blender’s mission—free…open source…open content cartoons—flips every traditional animation production model on its head, yet they’re successfully figuring it out as they go along. While it’s still too early to tell if their approach will catch on more widely, Blender’s approach suggests a fascinating alternative to the typical ways of funding, producing, and distributing animation content.

As for Cosmos Laundromat’s “love story,” it’s a little more complicated than suggested in the trailer. Per the official synopsis:

On a desolate island, a suicidal sheep named Franck meets his fate…in the form of a quirky salesman named Victor, who offers him the gift of a lifetime. The gift is many lifetimes, actually, in many different worlds – each lasting just a few minutes. In the pilot, Franck meets Victor and visits the first of these worlds, a vibrant jungle where he is transformed into a caterpillar. The next episode will show Franck finding a new reason to live…in the form of a bewitching female adventurer named Tara, who awakens his long-lost lust for life. But can Franck keep up with her?