During the Covid-19 pandemic, a mother returns her son’s missed phone call. “It’s Your Mother Calling,” directed by NoBudge favorite Travis Wood, is a touching animated micro-short that uses a real voicemail message over a series of colorful visuals. It’s a portrait of longing and motherly advice (“don’t eat with dirty hands; coronavirus is out there”), both timeless and specific. A couple of photographs bring home the emotional resonance, a familial bond always in danger of drifting away from simpler times. We’ve featured several of Wood’s stylistically varied experimental shorts, most recently with “Affurmative Action,” an observational essay piece about the lack of diversity in many company’s online “Meet the Team” pages.

Director, Animator: Travis Wood. Sound design: Tim Brandl.