Filmmakers of Pixar’s “Bao” say short film has “timeless” appeal

Walt Disney Studios(NEW YORK) — This week, Disney-Pixar fans got a taste of the animation house’s new short film Bao at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The seven-minute film, which will play in theaters before The Incredibles 2, is about a Chinese-Canadian mother with empty-nest syndrome whose homemade dumpling suddenly comes to life. It was directed by Domee Shi, the first female to ever direct a Pixar short film.

While the short contains themes most parents could relate to, Shi says it contains something that appeals to every age.

“I think kids will relate to the dumpling character a lot and they’ll like how round and cute and colorful the world is and maybe it’ll make them curious about Chinese food,” Shi says.

She adds, “Eventually they’ll get to understand the more mature themes and aspects of the short but I think that’s what makes the short so timeless too ’cause you can keep watching it at different periods of your life and understand something different about it.”

Perhaps no one knows that better than the film’s producer, Becky Neiman-Cobb, who had a baby during the making of the film.

“You know I actually had a lot of empathy and could relate a lot to the dumpling character and then when I came back from maternity leave and was a mom I immediately related with Mom,” she says. 

Bao will make its debut when The Incredible 2 arrives on June 15.

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