Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, the Oscar-winning director of “Roma,” has produced his third short Christmas film in as many years.
Inspired by the true story of an owl that was trapped in the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree when it was cut down in the forest and transported to New York City, the 25-minute “An Almost Christmas Story” currently can be seen on the streaming service Disney+.
Cuarón, who turned 63 on Nov. 28, is a five-time Academy Award winner who has also won seven BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. His 2018 feature film “Roma” won Oscars for best director and best cinematography. His Oscar for the 2013 space-survival film “Gravity” made him the first Latin American to win the Academy Award for best directing.
“An Almost Christmas Story” was written by Cuarón, director David Lowery (“A Ghost Story”) and Jack Thorne. It was produced by Cuarón, Lowery and Gabriela Rodríguez through Esperanto Filmoj, the TV and film production company owned by Cuarón.
The English-voice cast includes 8-year-old Cary Christopher (“Days of Our Lives”) as the little owl named Moon, John C. Reilly (“Boogie Nights”) as the folk-singing narrator and comedian Jim Gaffigan as Papa Owl, along with Mamoudou Athie (“Jurassic World Dominion”), Phil Rosenthal (“Somebody Feed Phil”) and Natasha Lyonne (“Russian Doll”).
A Collider review describes the short as not another routine Christmastime feature film but as one of “those sweet short-form stories that typically aren’t longer than 35 minutes [such as] ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,’ ‘Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town’ and ‘A Year Without a Santa Claus.’”
“An Almost Christmas Story” follows the curious young owl, Moon, who unexpectedly finds himself stuck in a Christmas tree destined for Rockefeller Center. In his attempts to escape the bustling city, Moon befriends a lost girl named Luna. Together, they embark on a heartwarming adventure in which they form an unexpected bond and discover the magic of the holiday season.
The short was first seen on the 2024 film festival circuit, including an Oct. 24 screening at the Morelia International Film Festival two months ago.
“An Almost Christmas Story” is the third of Cuarón’s trilogy of Christmas shorts; he also produced “Le Pupille” by Italian director Alice Rohrwacher in 2022 and “The Shepherd” by English director Iain Softley in 2023. “Le Pupille” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Action Short Film, and “The Shepherd” was shortlisted for the same award.
Disney+ is currently streaming all three shorts, but you have to sign up for a standard or premium plan to view them.
“An Almost Christmas Story” was inspired by the discovery of an owl in the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in 2020. The owl, dubbed Rocky, was eventually returned to his native habitat.
“It occurred to me that it could be a good starting point for a story about a rebellious child who, finding himself lost, rediscovers the importance of solidarity and family; it was very appropriate for Christmastime,” Cuarón told the newspaper Milenio.
Cuarón credited director David Lowery with creating “a really beautiful work” by using an “aesthetic that was not refined, but rather unfinished” — similar to craft projects Lowery made as a child using boxes and cardboard cutouts.
A press release from Disney referred to the short as “the third and final installment of Cuarón’s holiday collection for Disney+.”
However, when asked by Milenio columnist Susana Moscatel about the possibility of him making more holiday shorts, Cuarón was not so definitive.
“I would love to,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. It would be great to continue doing these kinds of stories in this format. I hope we do.”
With reports from Milenio and IGN Latinoamérica
