Milo 55160
Canada
Milo knows eternity is a long time to wait for a promotion. Milo is Heaven’s loneliest bureaucrat who spends everyday the same as the day before — processing disoriented and angry “newly-deads.” One day he meets an unusual boy, a “near dead” boy named Will, who is between both worlds. When Will mysteriously disappears, Milo is forced to leave his office desk and embark on a purgatorial odyssey through the afterlife. What he discovers drastically changes his life, literally, forever. Written and directed by David Ostry. Principal cast: Patrick McKenna, Alec Stockwell, Mark Caven, Graham Kartna, and Anne Tager Page.

Dad’s Clock
Australia
An elaborate and imaginative animation based on a father’s quest to build a clock before he dies of cancer and of a son’s attempts to reconcile their distant relationship. Written and directed by Dik Jarman, who is also an architect (in addition to being a puppet maker), spent two years making this film. The film is made even more personal by the inclusion of objects owned by his father — for example, a compass is used to as the bird’s beak.