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[Flix for Short is Flixist’s way of showing off awesome short films we find around the web. Do you have a favorite short you saw? Why not tell us about it in our Community Blogs? We’d love to see what short films you can make and find!]
You may not know his name, but Joe Ranft contributed to every Pixar movie up to Cars in many ways. Originally brought on to Pixar as a storyboard artist, Ranft ended up voicing many classic characters like Wheezy the penguin in Toy Story 2, Heimlich the caterpillar in A Bug’s Life, and Jacques the shrimp in Finding Nemo. He also ended up as a co-director on Cars. Sadly though, Joe was killed in a car accident in 2005, a year before Cars would see release. He is survived by his wife and two children.
Last year, a friend and colleague of Joe’s created this wonderful animation as a tribute to Joe’s life and contributions to Pixar, and animation as a whole. So grab your morning coffee and a tissue, because you’ll need both to get through the hilarious, and very bitter sweet animation above.