The Leaf-a-Teers Animation
Creative Chakra Film Festival Official Selecton 2026
•
7m 5s
Animated Film By Stephen Hessel whose father founded a butterflyhe Leaf-a-teers is an uplifting animated short about Harry, a late-blooming caterpillar struggling to find his place in the world. Surrounded by friends already transforming around him, Harry begins to wonder if he will ever become who he was meant to be. Blending warmth, humor, and emotional storytelling, The Leaf-a-teers is a gentle reminder that transformation often arrives when we finally learn to trust ourselves.
Written, directed, and produced by Stephen Hessel for Harambe Production Company.
Recipient of multiple international film festival awards, including Best Children’s Film, Best Family Film, Best Director, Best Animation, and a Telly Award for Best Generative AI Narrative
Up Next in Creative Chakra Film Festival Official Selecton 2026
-
Well(ness)
A film by Mary Lou Sandler and Justin Sandler -
Well(ness) is a 40-minute female-led dramedy about women, wellness, and the “price” of inner peace. Set against the backdrop of a wellness retreat gone hilariously wrong, four women confront their own curated calm and each other as the line between... -
Making a Mini Forest
A film by Director Biography - Angelina Lee
Old growth, native forests are disappearing, pulling the rug out from under local biodiversity, and releasing noxious carbon dioxide that compounds climate change. To restore those native forests, people around the world are embracing the Miyawaki Meth...
-
The Fools Song Music Video
A film by Pam Falkenberg, Jack Cochran
An experimental music video, based on William Carlos Williams’ poem, “The Fool’s Song,” now in the public domain, gains new life when performed and sung by musician Patty Larkin, and then developed into an experimental music video by Outlier Moving Pictures ...
