Since 1998, the Animation Show of Shows has selected the best animated shorts from around the world. According to founder and curator Ron Diamond, the 15 films chosen for the 20th annual edition “really illuminate human strengths and foibles, and the bonds that unite us across cultures and generations.” Though these films and their animators come from various backgrounds and countries, the themes represented are truly relatable across the board.

Ranging from 70 seconds to 15 minutes, the works range from darkly funny to deeply moving, representing an impressive array of visual styles and moods. Running a little over an hour and a half, the entire program is a treat from start to finish.

Some highlights include:

Grands Canons, from French multimedia artist Alain Biet, is a dizzying visual presentation of thousands of hand-dawn everyday objects, presented at various speeds and in myriad permutations, accompanied by jaunty, propulsive music. Clearly a labor of love, it ultimately becomes mesmerizing.

Barry, from filmmaker and Cal Arts animation student Anchi Shen, is a humorous, simply drawn story about a goat with a Harvard degree applying for an oncologist position at a hospital. He’s first relegated to custodial work until he saves the day in the OR. Though his fellow physicians cheer him on, he’s fired from the staff because “Goats are never doctors.” A clever take on stereotyping.

The visually intriguing Love Me, Fear Me from Romanian filmmaker Veronica Solomon (now living in Berlin) features an ever-morphing clay figure who performs various styles of choreography; first as a comic blue male, then a sultry red female, followed by an aggressive, blade-handed grey character and an ominous white robed figure, each accompanied by appropriate music. Finally a multi-colored, writhing mass of clay transforms into a simple human. The theme: Role-playing and the different personas some of us adapt in order to please others.

Shorter than two minutes, the fast-paced, absurdist satire Business Meeting, from Brazilian animator Guy Charnaux, features minimal, childlike black and white figures. The setting: “Wall Street, 4 pm.” As the boss asks each employee the same question, their answers — and the characters themselves — become more and more bizarre, until it all comes full circle: “Great! This meeting is over.” For anybody who’s ever suffered through a redundant, BS-filled work meeting, this is both hilarious and satisfying.

Flower Found! from Dutch animator Jorn Leeuwerink is a deceptively sweet looking animation about a mouse who finds and quickly loses a lovely flower in the woods. Various creatures join the disconsolate mouse to find the stolen bloom, finally settling on a chicken whose comb looks flowerlike. The gang does what they think is right, despite the mouse’s protestations. A disturbing visualization of blind righteousness and the danger of mob mentality.

A profound and moving work, Carlotta’s Face illustrates the first-person narration of a German woman who has prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize faces, including her own. Created by neuroscientist and filmmaker Valentin Riedl and animator Frédéric Schuld, the film is a beautifully-drawn depiction of a tragic story that ends quite wonderfully.

Age of Sail from American animator John Kahrs is a gorgeous, realistic-looking film about an old-school seafarer (voiced by Ian McShane) in a sailboat who rescues a young girl who’s fallen overboard a passing ocean liner. Dramatic and action-filled, Age of Sail is part of Google’s Spotlight Series, and also available in a VR version which must be amazing.

Eusong Lee’s My Moon is an eerily beautiful, poetic story of a female figure (Earth) who is in love with a darkly romantic male (Moon), but is swept off her feet (literally) by a glowing orb-headed alpha male (Sun). The love triangle, which is accompanied by what sounds like classic movie dialogue, eventually resolves itself.

Weekends by Canadian filmmaker (and Pixar story artist) Trevor Jimenez is a painterly, fantastically detailed depiction of a boy shuffled back and forth between his divorced parents in 1980s Toronto. His quiet life with mom in the suburbs contrasts sharply with dad’s bachelor pad in the city (the music veers from Satie to Dire Straits). Overwhelmed by his contrasting double-life, the boy has many graphic, unsettling nightmares. Gradually the seasons change and things settle down.

For more information on the full program, click here.

The 20th Annual Animation Show of Shows opens at the Quad Cinema in NYC on Friday, December 28.

— Marina Zogbi