Netflix is debuting three new animated short films over the next month and a half that they will also be putting up for major awards consideration. The first is If Anything Happens, I Love You, directed by Michael Govier and Will McCormack. The two discuss their intentions and emotions behind the short, which is about the grieving parents of a child who died in a school shooting.

Jackson Murphy: This has been shown at 33 Festivals this year (at least that’s how many are on the short’s website). How does that feel, and were most of them virtual fests?

Michael Govier: It feels amazing. Our goal was to go and see the country – see the world – and bring this film everywhere. And our main goal was to play in every state, so we submitted to everything we could because we wanted this film to be seen by everyone. But there’s only been a handful of live ones, and some of them have [shown it at] Drive-Ins, and some of them were actually live before the pandemic started in March. Will and I went to the premiere in Omaha, and that was the last one Will and I were both physically present at.

JM: One of them is near me, the Woodstock Film Festival. What was your direct involvement with them?

MG: We submitted and did a little Q&A for them. But everything is virtual – we didn’t get to go and participate with that community. We were really excited. We wish we could have. And we all wanted to go to Woodstock, but it wasn’t meant to be this year.

Will McCormack: It’s bittersweet because I love film festivals: meeting other filmmakers and seeing all the films and seeing the towns. We’ll just have to make another film.

JM: When I was in 9th Grade, I was at school on the day of the Sandy Hook tragedy. And I remember coming back for lunch and going to science class and my science teacher came in and said, “Just got some horrible news. A lot of little ones lost their lives.” Did those emotions and feelings (and that news) stay with you and made you want to make this short?

WM: Yes. Thank you for bringing that up. That was such an unthinkable, horrific, unimaginable moment in our country’s life, and it just kept happening. One of the reasons why Michael and I made this film was we really wanted to honor parents who lost kids to gun violence. It’s just something that has happened all too frequently, and it’s such a stain, I think, on our country. We had this proverb on our corkboard where we built the movie which was, “When your parents die, you bury them in the ground. But when your child dies, you bury them in your heart.” We’ve met a lot of parents who’ve lost children to gun violence, and we admire their courage and we want to see their grief and acknowledge their pain. And that’s one of the powerful tools of storytelling. These things that are articles – they become intimate and real, and you can get inside the emotion of it. Animation is such a great tool for that. We wanted to create an elegy for these parents who have dealt with that grief that no one should have to go through.

JM: It is emotional. It is powerful. But because the Animated Short process is usually a positive, upbeat experience, were you able to find moments of positivity in making something as serious as this?

MG: Yes. I feel like the film is very emotional and it has a lot of depth. You’re watching a grieving process. I do think there’s hope within it because you’re seeing the human spirit and how much the human spirit can endure and go forward. That is a huge testament to all of us and also to survivors – and also the ones who were lost. Everyone chooses to keep going and keep going forward.

JM: I want to ask you about two key supporting elements to the story. First, what’s the significance of choosing the record player?

WM: The little girl in the movie… we just fell in love with her when we were creating her character. The King Princess song was at the forefront of the music we were listening to when we were thinking about music for the film. We just love the image of the record player because we thought she has a sort of ‘throwback cool’ to her. We love the animation possibilities of the [soccer] ball falling and hitting the record player and the needle drop. There was something very moving about it, and it had a motion to it that lends itself to feeling like it was right for animation.

JM: And as the sequences go on, you see the significance of that more and more. And why soccer? You could’ve chosen a bunch of different sports for her to play, but why soccer?

MG: I think we all grew-up playing soccer at some point.

JM: Yes, me too!

MG: It’s such a universal thing. And all you need is that ball and some ground. You can kind of play anywhere. Put up two trash cans: you’re playing soccer. You’re learning about her even though she’s passed. It gives you these other things. “Oh, she’s a full person. She’s got this cool vibe. She listens to vinyl. And she’s 10.” It’s probably her parents’ record player. When I was a kid, I put on my parents’ records because I thought the device was cool. It helped fill out and understand her.

JM: I have some friends who are more of a throwback to an older, different time. You give special thanks to Everytown for Gun Safety. Did you go to them and other organizations and people for stories and authenticity? What kind of research was involved?

WM: It’s such delicate subject matter that we wanted to make sure we were handling it authentically and appropriately. We both admired the work that Everytown for Gun Safety does. We showed them the film really early on. We showed them the script, even, prior to the animatic, and they loved the story. Michael and I spent almost a year on the script because we wanted to be really thoughtful about how we told this story. So we were pretty thorough in devising the story. They jumped on board really early on and they’ve been a partner and have been such an advocate of the film. We were really lucky to partner with them, so it’s a blessing to the film.

JM: And tell me about the overall decision for this to be in black-and-white with specific usage of certain colors in certain places.

MG: There were a lot of conversations as far as discussing color. We knew we wanted very minimal. We knew we wanted the animation style in two dimensions. And as you see different things, things would disappear out of frame. If it doesn’t need to be in frame, it’s gone. We kept pairing down to just the necessary items in every frame. When you see the bedroom, there’s a pan across the [entire girl’s] bedroom. And then when it cuts back to the bed, everything on the outside is gone… and it’s just about the parents sitting on the bed. And as far as color: memory, in our design of it, wasn’t full technicolor because it’s still memory of the current time. Grief is still leaked into that memory. So that’s why the outside edges don’t have a lot of color and there’s just these selected colors. You’re remembering this wonderful time that’s still filtered through the present day.

JM: I can tell how much thought and passion went into this. Oscar winner Laura Dern, our current Best Supporting Actress recipient, is involved in the film. What spoke to her about this story?

WM: We’ve been fans of Laura’s forever. To have her and her producing partner Jayme Lemons come on board was a dream come true. I’m a gigantic fan of her dad, Bruce Dern. And she’s an iconic actor. We showed Laura the movie and she really responded to it, and so did Jayme. They’ve been very active in Everytown for Gun Safety’s mission. When you’re making a tiny movie, it’s really good to have Laura Dern and Jayme Lemons in your corner. I’ll tell you that. They will fight for you. They’ve got such a proven track record. People listen [to them]. They pay attention.

JM: I’m glad. This is one of the first animated short films that Netflix is showcasing and putting up for Oscar and Annie Awards consideration. What does this mean to you to be on this platform, and are you ready for what could be one of the most unconventional awards seasons we’ve ever had?

WM: It means everything.

MG: Netflix is a blessing. They don’t do this. They don’t have a shorts division, really. This is the beginning of it. We’re kind of on the forefront of it. We’re so honored to be at the beginning of this new thing. I hope they do it every year. We love this category, and we hope that the Animated Shorts explode and these other platforms keep picking them up. Especially the independent ones. That’s what I’m really excited about.

WM: To have a tiny film and all of a sudden have the opportunity to be in hundreds of millions of homes is psychedelic, almost. This is incredible. We’re grateful to Netflix. They’re awesome partners and we’re excited about the relationship.

JM: Good. I think Netflix will keep doing this every year because they got into the Animated Feature game with a few films over the last couple years. And now they’re getting into Animated Shorts. Every year I go to one of my area theaters and see the Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films presentation. If that happens again, I hope your short is a part of it.

MG: We’ve screened it a couple times in a theater and the impact is dramatic. Now you’re around a whole group of people and everyone is having this shared experience. And it becomes very compelling because on the way out, or just sitting next to people, people start having conversations and sharing things about grief and sharing their experiences. It becomes very opening and welcoming and very beautiful and organic. It’s happened to us two or three times now, and every time it’s unexpected. People come up to us and say, “I’ve had this experience with this kind of loss in my life.” And they wanted to share that this reminded them [of that]. And they’re grateful and thanking us [in] revisiting their lost ones.