Bao: Watch Pixar's Oscar-nominated short streaming for free

It involves a sentient steamed dumpling and a mother with empty nest syndrome

First published on 19th December 2018

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed its 2019 shortlist earlier this week, with Pixar’s latest short, Bao, up for Animated Short Film.

Directed by Domee Shi, the short was tacked onto the front of Incredible 2 in cinemas, but in light of its shortlisting has been made available for free on YouTube for one week.

You might think that a film about a sentient steamed dumpling would be a rare non-tearjerker from Pixar, but you’d be wrong.

Bao sees the studio tap into a new melancholic scenario, centring on a Chinese-Canadian mother suffering from empty nest syndrome.

Eight minutes long, Bao has no dialogue but plenty of incredibly satisfying images of dumplings being formed and steamed.

Shi is the first female director of a Pixar short, and cut her teeth working as a storywriter on Inside Out.