It is a short (8 minutes++) artistic piece of animation that will leave you crying. It may be in black and white (and shades of gray) and no words are spoken, but the story is so effectively conveyed, you'd be surprised of your own reaction once it ended. It also helps that the characters are beautifully drawn and the landscape is quaintly painted. I'm glad it won as Oscar. However, too bad it's gonna be hard to find. I really hope more people can get a chance to watch it. Watching it will make you appreciate your father even more, and for those who have lost a father, watching it might even be unbearable. Find it, watch it, treasure it......and remember to pass it to your children.
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sumpit10 June 2006
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hitchcockfan6022 September 2006This is one of the most amazing shorts I've seen. The story of love between a girl and her father is so amazing. As the father leaves his daughter, she still comes back to the last place she saw him as she grows older. The story is touching, and the music is amazing. Not to mention the animation, which was so beautiful. I thought this film was certainly deserving of its Academy Award, despite "Rejected" being one of my favorites also. But this film is so touching, so beautiful, I could watch it again and again and not get tired of it. The ending was so touching- but I won't spoil it. Watch this film and you will never forget it.
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TRunfalo17 February 2005The film is very touching although I am confused about the father's actions at the very beginning. Why would he do what he did? Also, I believe the ending would have been much more effective if she had morphed into the little girl he left behind, instead of morphing into a young woman.
All in all, the film is very touching and melancholy with beautiful music and extremely well placed and well done "bicycle bell" ringing and other sound effects.
Independent Film Channel has aired this beautiful little film several times and each time I see it I am more and more attracted to it. -
gratayl3 November 2002I was lucky enough to see this at an animation masterclass in Glasgow in 2001. Thankfully the lights were dimmed when they showed this so we could all cry in the dark.
A masterpiece that does not waste a single frame. Stylish and straight to the emotional nerve.
The feeling of longing in this short is almost suffocating. Longing is such a strong emotion that is not expressed often enough in cinema. If anyone in film can get half as close to true longing as "Father and Daughter" they will touch the audience for life.
People MUST see this. Someone out there - What about a compilation video of "10 Years of Animated Shorts Oscar Winners" Please? -
AdamHawkes2 May 2013The film is a story about a father and his daughter, mainly about the daughter. When she is a child, I don't know why, she is left by her father. And leaving her, he goes far by rowboat. Later, she always comes to the river where he left and looks for him, but she can't find him. Finally, she becomes an old woman, and then...
I like this film for two reasons. The first reason is its background music. It is like a waltz. I like a waltz, so I like the music too. In addition to this, the music of each part of this film matches the mood of and represents her emotions.
The second reason is its imagery. The image is mostly a shadow picture. It makes me a little sad, but it is very artistic.
I am not surprised that this film won the 2000 Academy Award for Animated Short Film. Its music and imagery are perfectly sophisticated. It's beautiful and artistic. And its story, the father and his daughter's love for each other, is very moving. I like this film so much that I watched it many times. I'd like you to watch this film with someone who you love. -
In my view, this piece is the equal to The Man Who Planted Trees (which is high praise indeed) and it should be in print and widely available. Sadly, all too many short animated pieces are not in print (or even seen, these days) and this reality will not be altered any time soon, I'm afraid. End of sermon.
Father and Daughter is simply breathtaking. The whole package-music, backgrounds, animation, story-everything is excellent, with nary a misstep. Basic themes repeat throughout and the attention to detail is extraordinary! Particularly watch toward the end, the shadows and the interaction of movement. That this won the Academy Award and deserved to is an understatement. There were three exceptional nominees, all of which is a testament to the committee overseeing the shorts nomination process. So far as I'm aware, only one (Rejected) is in print. I saw Father and Daughter on The Sundance Channel, as part of Shorts Program 103. Most highly recommended. -
LunarPoise11 September 2006Father and Daughter is a perfect piece of animation film-making. People 'worry' that it won't be seen, but we have postings here from Germany, Scotland, USA... Here in Japan, the film got a theatrical release, the shortest movie ever to achieve that in Japan. I have been screening it to film students for three years, and in this year's class one student had seen it already. This film takes one traumatic event in the life of a young woman and focuses on it to the exclusion of all others. It doesn't reduce her life to that single motif - the film acknowledges that a fuller life is lived off-screen, as her family accompanying her in several scenes implies. Some filmmakers will work their whole careers and never have their audience achieve the level of catharsis in Father and Daughter. Quite simply breathtaking in its economy and elegance.
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ShortoftheWeek5 March 2008In 2000, Father and Daughter won the Academy Award for Best Short Film for its Dutch director Michael Dudok de Wit. For such a short (eight minutes) movie it has a remarkable capacity to move an audience. The story of a father who leaves his daughter and rows off into the ocean, it commences with two figures riding their bicycles, the smaller of the wheels in perfect symmetry with the larger. The father and daughter climb to the top of a hill at which point the father alights, hugs his daughter before climbing down to the seashore. He cannot resist running back and holding the girl one last time before rowing off towards the distant horizon. The girl runs up and down against the skyline as the sun gradually sets. There is no explanation. She returns again and again to her vantage point on the cliff to peer out to sea for his return. Each return marks a passage in her life from child to adolescent, mother and eventually old woman. And still she returns to search for the father who left her.
The landscape of the Netherlands with its wide skies and tall poplar trees is the backdrop to the movie. The sky and landscape is a delicate colour wash of brown, grey, sepia, sometimes hints of green or blue. The drawing is pencil and charcoal, the drawings scanned and colour added digitally. Remarkably in a film that deals in emotion, there is no facial detail whatsoever. Often the figures are drawn in silhouette. This can be remarkably effective in conveying mood: the old woman toiling up the hill, the flapping arms of the child, the teenager gliding down the slope on her bike, which in another later scene will simply not stand upright. Always the brushwork is spare, perhaps a stroke that transforms into a slender girl or a smudge for the squared old woman. Each shot is exquisite: the long shadows of trees or bicycle; seascape and sky, vast and empty. The seasons change with a rustle of leaves or the girl struggling up the hill against a wind that bends trees. The music by Norman Roger is sympathetic to the theme, essentially a lilting tune but arranged with tone and depth.
This astonishingly accomplished and poetic movie fulfils in every sense. Michael Dudok de Wit was born in 1953 and educated in Holland. In 1978, he graduated from the West Surrey College of Art in England. His films include Tom Sweep (1992), The Monk and the Fish (1994) and The Aroma of Tea (2006). You might also have seen the rather classy commercial for United Airlines, A Life. Given his draftsman-like qualities, Michael is much in demand as an illustrator for books. My Christmas present from my family, and well recommended, was Best of British Animation Awards Vol.4 that includes Michael's Oscar winning short.
Read this and other online film reviews at www.ShortoftheWeek.com -
planktonrules13 February 2008Wow. After watching FATHER AND DAUGHTER and then reading all the wonderfully positive reviews, I sure feel out of step with most everyone. While I would agree that FATHER AND DAUGHTER is moving as it tries very hard to evoke an emotional reaction, to me it just didn't have the same emotional impact. Was it a good film? Sure. It had lovely music and while the animation was very simple, it did fit the mood well. But I just didn't feel as strongly about the film as everyone else seemed to. In fact, while FATHER AND DAUGHTER received the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 2001, I really preferred the super-dark yet graphically superior THE PERIWIG-MAKER. However, I will also be honest and admit that FATHER AND DAUGHTER has a much higher rating and many who reviewed THE PERIWIG MAKER felt it was just too dark and depressing. To each his or her own. Of course, I also think I preferred the other runner up, REJECTED, because at least it elicited an emotional reaction within me. With FATHER AND DAUGHTER, I just felt a bit let down thanks to all the hype.
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s.devries6 July 2001Father and Daughter is one of the most touching pieces of art I have ever seen. Although the movie only lasts eight minutes, the effect on its audience will probably last a lifetime. To describe 'Father and Daughter' as beautiful is just an understatement. Go see this gem and be amazed yourself.
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There is a father and daughter. The father is a man in his middle life and the daughter is young. One day the father leaves the daughter to travel by boat. The boat leaves from the bank. The boat gets smaller and smaller. The daughter watches the boat until it is invisible. From that day, the daughter goes to meet her father again and again. However, her father doesn't come back to her. She grows up and becomes an adult before long. She marries and has children. She waits for her father still. Finally, she becomes an old woman. Perhaps her father has already died; nevertheless she waits for her father.
The music matches this movie. I think the music expresses the daughter'feeling. My favorite is the piano in the music. The sadness to wait for her father is expressed by a tempo and an accent. I can feel sadness, worry, loving her father, loneliness and admiration. In addition, this movie makes me imagine various things. For example, why does her father travel, what does her mother do when he travels? I want to know these things.
I think we can interpret this movie. For example the daughter is always sad or loving her father storyline for a long time. It is interesting to be able to make a variety of interpretations. -
julesvalery13 April 2001This short animated film just blew me away. Absolutely beautiful. Too bad no one will see it! The drawing, the story, the pace, the music, everything works. I'm glad it won the Oscar for best animated short film, it deserves it!
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Father and Daughter is a film which simply shows the relationship between a father and a daughter, as the title says. Though the father for appears only a few minutes in the film, we can feel his presence all the way through this movie. It is easy for as to understand that the daughter is always thinking of her father by following her eyes looking for him. At the same time, the film makes us imagine her life vividly. It only shows the scene the daughter pedals a bicycle to come to the shore where she lost her father, however, the appearance of herself, people beside her and the weight of the pedal draw the situations which she is in at that moment. The relation between father and daughter is a special thing, typically. A father is a first boyfriend of a daughter, and a daughter is the last girlfriend of a father. When a girl faces her father, she is always "a daughter." It's different from any other relationship. This film reminds us of these special sweet memories.
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goalkeeper-yuta5 July 2013When a girl is little, her father crosses the sea by boat, and his figure disappears from the girl. Every day the girl goes to the sea where father disappeared. I wonder why her father is gone, even though his daughter is very little. This movie made me very sad. i am very surprised at the girl's action, because she goes on searching for her father even though she become an old lady. When I saw this movie, this movie tells me that she never forgot the existence of her father, furthermore it is important for us to live with our families. The scene that her father crosses the sea tells that her father will never came back. It is difficult for little children to take this real situation. Before I saw this movie, I never thought that family is precious, but I learn from this movie that nothing is more important than spend time with families.
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Garth-83 June 2004This short film apparently took 8 years to make and it shows.
I saw it as part of an arts degree programme at NEWI, Wrexham where it was used to demonstrate to the Level 1 audience what empathy (the subject of the next essay) could be.
The artwork shows what can be achieved with the utmost economy of line, no massive Disney or Pixar art work here. It is truly incredible the depth of emotion that such an apparently very simple, short film can bring out. It certainly made the 'empathy' point, I defy anybody with any kind of normal human feelings not to be moved by this film.
I heartily recommend this film if you can get to see it. -
cathyluo91712 October 2014This film, I got it as soon as I watched it. The hug before the father left particularly touched me because it shows that the father loves the daughter deeply. The daughter was shown to be sad to see her father go because she watched the boat until it disappeared from view. The first time I watched it, it got me to tears at the end but the second time, I felt like crying all my heart out when it came to the hug. The girl grows up, has her own family but yet, she is longing for her father to come back. Eventually, the lake dries up, she is old and yet she still hasn't given up. She went to find her father and when she found the boat, even though she didn't find her father, when it was shown how she was running towards her father and getting younger as she ran to him, that didn't really happen but in her heart, it was as if it did and she would never leave her father again, as was implied when she lay down into the boat. Altogether, it expressed well how love is strong and people would do anything for someone they loved. I feel like crying whenever I watch it! No wonder it won so many prizes. The music fitted in well, growing more and more distant as time passed. The wind and bell ringing really suited in as sound effects. Altogether, I really think this film was well expressed in just a few minutes.
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sawii298 May 2013one day, a daughter follows her father to see him off going to work by crossing a lake. She watches him until he fades out from her sight. She waits for him whether it's sunny, windy or rainy. No matter how terrible the weather is. She waits, but he does not come back. Time passes. She gets married, has kids and ages...
I was almost crying. Waiting for somebody for a long time makes you sad and anxious. She leads a life, but at the same time she always keeps her father. It is because she cannot forget the figure of him which she saw last I think. The lake changes and dries up, implying that a very long time has passed.
This film has no dialogue and no expression on her face. However, I got to know how she feels by the sound, shadow or even her back.
She is eager to meet her father again, but she probably knows she cannot. If only she could meet her father once again! This story gives me a strong impression of bond among families. -
yu-ka6 October 2021Father & Daughter is a short film animation made in 2000. One day, the girl and her father are cycling along the shore, but he suddenly says goodbye to her and disappears by rowing the boat. The daughter comes to the shore by bicycle day after day and waits for her father for a long time until she gets old. The father never comes back, but the last scene is very touching. I think you can feel the warmth of family love in the daughter's praiseworthy conduct that she waits for her father, even on a windy day, even with her new family, even when she becomes too old to pedal her bicycle. Also, there is no dialogue, but the music is remarkably effective and impressive. I felt the waltz tune emphasized the sadness that time passes by indifferently if you lose someone you love. It is sad but a very warm and happy story. I would like you watch this film with your family or loved ones.
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kamamitochan10 November 2021This short family film was made in 2000. The father and his daughter go to the shore by bicycle, and then he rows a boat and leaves the place. After that, she visits the place by bicycle again and again and keeps waiting for his return. In my opinion, I felt she has a strong belief that he will definitely come back. She keeps waiting for him on sunny, windy, rainy, and snowy days and for many decades. Even as she gets older, she rides or walks her bicycle. That means there is consistency to her behavior. Besides, although this film doesn't have dialogue, subtitles, explanations or facial expression, it makes me imagine various things from the change of melody, of her figure, of characters except for her, of the landscape, and so on. For example, she rides a bicycle alone, with friends, with her boyfriend, with her husband and two children, and alone after being an old lady. Besides, her bicycle tire that is going round and round attracts attention. These will suggest the passage of time. In other words, these show that a long time passed waiting for him. In conclusion, this film stirs our imagination, so it is worth seeing it.
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bachispicaqtmz6 July 2017This film does not have any dialogue, but I could understand its story visibly. At first I could not see why the father leaves his daughter, but now I know what his disappearance implies. A few colors are used in the film, so it looks like a shadow picture. And the long shadows of the characters and trees are impressive for me. They made me feel melancholy. The planitive music also did so. I like this movie but there is one point that I can not understand. It is the scene when the daughter could meet her father again. She is returning to the figure of a young woman. Why did she not morph into the girl, who was separated from her father. If the scene is made like this, I might be moved more.
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kr-kr-dr322 July 2013This film is very beautiful and fantastic animation. Spectacle of long life compressed in eight minute which is very short. Although there are many metaphors of life and death, the film progress lightly with beautiful melody of piano. I like this film. Some people may cry loud. Perhaps, if watchers are older, they are felt strong emotion by this film. Although this movie doesn't have words and colors, it has what move people emotion deeply. The symbols of this film are ''shore" and "bicycle". Especially, the shadows of bicycles make beautiful scene in the film. In short, I want you to see this film. I think that seeing it gifted powerful impression to you. It is worth a thousand of my words. I heard that this film received the Best Animated Short of Academy Award. I am in full agreement on this fact. I think it is masterpiece of masterpiece, without mistake.
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rumi-s050721 August 2013This is a touching story about the ties of parent and child. A father arrives under a tree with his young daughter by bicycle. But he suddenly leaves her by sea shore and never returns. Then his daughter comes there many times to meet him again. There are few colors in this film and we can't see emotions from character's faces. But I can really feel her grief because of sorrowful background music and beautiful landscapes. She grows, gets married and has a family. Although there is always a deep longing for her father within her mind, she found happiness in her life. In the scene of the beginning, she rode a bicycle in a terrible storm. But it seemed that the climate gets calmer and calmer as it shows her feeling. The last scene is very impressive, but I like the processes before arriving at it. I was able to feel affection of family after seeing this film.
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yfm359416 July 2013This film is about a parting between a girl and her father and her life after that. The girl lives her life always looking forward to seeing him again.
The features of this film are nostalgic music and soft drawings. These complement each other and let us feel as if we were seeing our old experiences. That is so impressive and I can't find fault with it.
The story of this film looks very simple but I think there are various interpretations. In my opinion, it refers to a life and its cycle. I think the wheel of a bicycle implies transmigration and the river means a boundary between the living and the dead. In fact, we can find a lot of scenes with a drawing of a wheel and the girl looking at the river. I feel a kind of a causal relationship between them.
Although this may be a strained interpretation, I can say that this film has something which makes us notice an important sense. I hope you watch this film. -
kared-850899 May 2016I feel human life is oppressive watching this movie. There are three reasons why I feel so. The first is the beginning scene in which father holds the daughter in his arms many times. I think that he had been torn between deciding whether to live or to die. As a result, he decided to die and went to a sea or a lake with a boat. The second reason is the effect of the wheels of bicycles Almost all scenes has wheels which are turning around. I think those wheels show human life which is a never ending journey. At the beginning of this movie, the daughter become alone because her father had gone from her. However, time does not stop, whatever happens like this situation. So, I suppose that the wheels which continue to move express human life. The last reason is the behavior of the daughter throughout. After her father goes, she keeps going to a shore where they become separated. She probably notices that he does not come back, but she expected to see him again and cannot stop going there. We humans cannot meet dead people. Of course, we know that. However we cannot forget those people. This movie expresses such a painful human mind. In conclusion, I have an impression that human life is trying for these reasons. I can learn many things from this movie.
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satohakilesson17 July 2013This movie is very sad story about a father and a daughter. He suddenly disappears riding on a boat to somewhere. She waits for him coming back for many years, but he never comes back.
Whenever she passes through the riverside, she remembers and waits for him. I don't know whether he died or not. Repeats of this are very sorrow. In the last scene, I think she dies and fortunately meets him in the heaven. My favorite is the animation. This black and white enhances the sadness of this movie. There are no words, so very quiet and appeals directory to our hearts! I also like the effective background music because it makes me sad and I think it pulls me into the story.
I think this movie is very emotional and makes me think my family! If my family or important friends suddenly disappear, I will wait until I can meet again. I want to show this movie to everyone I like.