Delightful Animated Short MATCHA MOUNTAIN From Gobelins Tells a Sweet Story With a Touch of Danger
If you’re in the mood for a charming little animated adventure, Matcha Mountain is a wonderful six-minute short film that’s worth checking out.
Created by six students at the prestigious Gobelins animation school in Paris, this colorful 2D animated short follows an unlikely friendship between a lonely grandmother and an injured balloon dog with a serious love for matcha desserts.
The film has a lovely, soft animation style that gives everything a warm, storybook feel. But beneath its adorable characters and peaceful mountain setting, something threatening is waiting to disrupt their happiness.
Here's the official synopsis: "Granny lives alone on Matcha Mountain. She rescues an injured balloon dog, addicted to matcha desserts by chance. Something begins to stir, and danger slowly creeps toward their fragile happiness..."
One of the things I like about Matcha Mountain is how much personality and emotion it packs into its short runtime. There's no dialogue, with the filmmakers relying entirely on expressive animation, music, and visual storytelling to bring this unusual friendship to life.
The film was created as a 2026 graduation project by six talented Gobelins students: Seiya Carpentier, Zijin Chen, Pauline Gisèle Gautschi, Jiamin Li, Yuanxin Ling, and Alexane Pierrot-Zago.
The music was composed by Arthur Dairaine, with sound design by Laurent Jimenez. The short was produced at Gobelins Paris and released by Miyu Distribution.
If Chen's name sounds familiar, they also worked on the beautiful one-minute animated tribute Miyazaki, which celebrated the legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. That short also showed a wonderful appreciation for expressive, hand-crafted animation.
Gobelins continues to turn out some impressive animated shorts, and Matcha Mountain is another great example of the creativity coming out of the school. It's sweet, imaginative, and has just enough mystery to keep you curious about where the story will go.
You can watch the full animated short below, so grab yourself a matcha latte and enjoy the film!