Bao

Bao is a 2018 American computer-animated short film written and directed by Domee Shi and produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It is the first Pixar short film to be directed by a female director. It was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival before being released with Incredibles 2 on June 15, 2018. The film is about an aging and lonely Chinese Canadian mother suffering from empty nest syndrome, who receives an unexpected second chance at motherhood when she makes a steamed bun (baozi) that comes to life. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 91st Academy Awards. Plot In Toronto, Canada, a Chinese-Canadian woman cooks a meal of baozi for her and her husband. One of her buns comes alive, much to her shock. She raises the steamed bun as a child, feeding and caring for it, as it enjoys the time spent with her. Eventually, the bun wishes to play with other children, but his overprotective mother refuses to allow it, much to his ire. As the bun grows, he desires increasing amounts of independence, which creates tension between the two of them that gradually alienates them from each other. When the bun introduces the mother to his new fiancée, with whom he will leave home, the mother protests. She tries to stop the steamed bun from leaving, and in a fit of desperation, she eats the bun, after which she cries over what she has done. Later, as the mother lies in bed, her real son enters the room, revealing that the whole sequence was an allegorical dream. His father urges him to talk to his mother, but she rebuffs him. As he and his mother sit on the edge of her bed, he offers her the same treat he once refused on the bus, which they share in an emotional moment. Later, after reconciling, the son and his fiancée join his mother in making buns, as his father looks on with approval. Production