Hero Sandwich

Hero Sandwich

An award winning animated short film, “Hero Sandwich” was inspired by a recording of family members who were exchanging stories about finding parking. The stories often inspire audiences to share their own stories, which is always fun. Happy Trails frequently makes short films as a way of exploring new ideas—in this case, we experimented with sand animation but took it to another level. Hero Sandwich is the first of its kind because it uses colored sand. Before Hero Sandwich came along, sand animation was most often lit from underneath while sand was manipulated on a pane of glass, resulting in black and white silhouettes that moved. Another process was to simply light sand from above and move it around. Hero Sandwich is a colored sand paintings! 

This award-winning short film was a huge success!

  • DIR/PRO: Andy Collen
  • NARRATION: Barry Collen, Tina Collen
  • PROJECT: Short Film
  • ANIMATION: Amy Collen, Andy Collen
  • AREA: Produced in Portland, Oregon
  • AUDIO: Greg Ives
  • AWARDS: Telly Award

Festival Entries

Denver Int’l. Film Festival, Denver, CO, ACT Film Festival, (Olympic Games) Atlanta, GA, Rainy States Film Festival, Seattle, WA, Melbourne Int’l. Film Festival, Australia, The Best of the NW Festival , Portland, OR, Hollywood for Children, (IMAX Cinemas), NY, Annecy Animation Festival, Annecy, France