This Porcelain Child Is Broken—And That's the Whole Point
A smiling army of ceramic children. A fire god with performance anxiety. A teapot named Ginger with one fatal facial expression. Yep, the trailer for Potlems just dropped—and the animation world is tilting its collective head like a confused corgi.
This isn't your typical feel-good graduation short. Spanish filmmaker Alberto Allegri Rodríguez, graduating from The Animation Workshop in 2025, delivers a surreal stop-motion-styled mini-opera where the “error” is the message. In a perfectly symmetrical society of grinning porcelain spawn, Ginger's frown isn't just a design flaw—it's an existential rupture.
Porcelain Frowns and 70s Nostalgia—Why It Matters
At first glance, Potlems looks like a cousin of The Nightmare Before Christmas that took an emotional intelligence seminar. But that 70s stop-motion aesthetic is a mask—beneath it is a raw meditation on difference and disability. Alberto Allegri, who calls the project a metaphor for growing up with a disability, injects vulnerability into every delicate frame. It's not Toy Story. It's Pink Floyd's The Wall by way of teacups.
And here's the kicker: Potlems is a student film. As in, made for his final 2025 graduation project. With collaborators like animation supervisor Astrid Lund Rasmussen and sound designer Joshua Madoff, this isn't some wobbly student experiment—it's tighter than most commercial shorts. Bonus absurdity? The Fire God literally halts his operatic ballad mid-note when he sees Ginger's frown. Straight-up Greek tragedy in porcelain drag.
The Deeper Cracks in the Glaze
This isn't animation's first dive into outsider narratives—ParaNorman, Coraline, Inside Out. But Potlems drops the euphemisms. A frown isn't a metaphor; it's the entire crisis. This short film wears its difference on its face. Literally.
It joins a wave of indie animations using imperfections as plot points. From The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse's saccharine vulnerability to World of Tomorrow's existential glitchiness, we're in an era where polished animation isn't just about rendering—it's about emotional grain.
And if you're wondering whether people will connect with a porcelain child who gets shut down for not smiling? Let's just say: TikTok already coined “resting sad face” as a badge of honor. Gen Z's gonna devour this.
So… Genius or Glazed-Over Gimmick?
Potlems doesn't just tip the teapot—it smashes it. Whether that's brilliant or bonkers, well… depends on whether you've ever felt like the cracked mug in a cupboard of china dolls.
Would you rewatch it or regift it to someone you lowkey resent? No judgment. (Okay, some judgment.)
