The Bears Are Cute, But The Working Conditions Are Murder: Welcome To ‘Pinkooland’ (EXCLUSIVE TRAILER)

Adorable pink bears are the main attraction at Pinkooland, a theme park whose biosynthetic mascots offer visitors an encounter with something fluffy, friendly, and engineered to entertain. For the people working below ground, however, keeping that fantasy running is a considerably less appealing proposition.

With Halloween just around the corner, Cartoon Brew is debuting the trailer for director Luis Usón’s 12-minute animated short, an Ecuadorian-Spanish production that brings horror, science fiction, and corporate satire into a world built around manufactured happiness. The film recently premiered in the official short film competition at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, and functions as a potential entry point into something far more ambitious.

Watch the trailer below:

The story follows Kassy, a park employee trapped in its underground facilities when the Pinkoos, those seemingly lovable bears, unleash chaos and destruction. It’s a premise with an immediately apparent appeal in an era of indie horror box office dominance.

“Packed with action, suspense, and ultra-violence, it’s a mind-bending journey that explores the dark and disturbing corners of ourselves and the society we live in, where pink teddy bears, ruthless corporations, and childhood dreams collide in an explosive and, above all, insanely fun experience,” Usón explains.

Produced by Ecuador’s Matte CG and Spain’s Vanova, Pinkooland brings together artists with backgrounds in animation, VFX, and video games. Usón’s experience includes layout and previs work on major studio productions, including Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. He previously co-directed the animated short Afterwork with Pinkooland producer and CG supervisor Andrés Aguilar, Ichi to his friends.

“Pinkooland is the film I’ve always dreamed of making,” Usón says. “A film for those who want to dive into a different, unexpected, and dangerous world.”

The creative team also includes animation director Cécile Brossette, whose credits include The Lorax, Despicable Me 2, and Minions, and production designer Enric Sant, who came to animation after more than a decade in video games. Usón wrote the short with María Burgués and Omar Rabuñal Varela.

For the performances, Usón worked with an actress using motion capture to develop the characters’ movements and physical interactions. That material provided a foundation that the animators refined through keyframe animation. Detailed previs and 3D layout established staging, camera movements, and timing before the team moved into final animation.

Using Unreal Engine, the filmmakers adjusted lighting, cameras, materials, and environments interactively. The team also handled hair simulation within the engine, while using Houdini for complex visual effects.

More than a standalone short, Pinkooland was also conceived as a proof of concept for a feature currently in development. Alongside introducing Kassy and the park’s unsettling universe, it gave the filmmakers an opportunity to test the production pipeline for a longer film combining horror, science fiction, and dark comedy.

For now, the trailer introduces a workplace where the cheerful branding promises far more comfort than the employees can expect.