Memory Jar
Director: Ruel Pascual
United States, 2025, 7 min
Shooting Format:Digital
Festival Year:2026
Category:Animation
Genres:Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Animation, Family
Crew:Writer: Ruel Pascual. Producer: Ruel Pascual. Writer: Ruel Pascual; Director: Ruel Pascual; Producer: Ruel Pascual; Senior Animator: Andrew Stovesand; Composer & Sound Designer: Jessica Fichot; 3D Character Modeler: Michelle Chen; Technical & VFX Artist: Harry Alisavakis; Concept Artist: Claire Chen; Distribution Producer: Sherry Wallace
Email:ruelpascual@gmail.com
Synopsis
“Memory Jar” is a film about the everyday struggle of balancing work and family, and the choices we make about how and where we spend our time. Life is like a camera: every day, we have the power to choose what we focus on.
Trailer
About the director
Ruel Pascual is a Filipino American filmmaker who moved to the United States in the mid-1980s. Growing up, he was deeply influenced by skateboarding, drawing, and hip-hop culture. Born in the Philippines, he also spent part of his childhood in Yokota, Japan, and now resides in Southern California.
He studied painting and animation at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. His career began in video games as an animator and artist, with roles at Blur Studio, Double Fine, DreamWorks, and Disney Interactive & Consumer Products. With over two decades of experience, he is currently an Art Director at a AAA game studio.
Memory Jar marks his first short film, inspired by his experiences as a father and husband.
Filmmaker's note
“Memory Jar” was inspired by a present from my daughters, a jar filled with handwritten memories on Post-it notes. This perfect gift fueled my creativity and I began developing the film in November of 2021 during the pandemic. After my day job, I worked on the film little by little during late nights and weekends. Memory Jar was completed in November 2025 in Los Angeles, California USA.
Over the span of four years, I assembled a small team and developed the film alongside an amazing composer, a 2D/3D artist-animator, and a tech/VFX artist. I was directly involved in every part of the process storyboarding, design, modeling, rigging, lighting, VFX, scene assembly, and editing. The entire project was rendered using the Unity real-time game engine.