Colourful and artistic, Dear Upstairs Neighbors (2026) brings a unique visual style to the animation landscape. This critically acclaimed animated short premiered at Sundance Film Festival this year and was later screened at Tribeca Film Festival 2026. But what this short film exceeds at is the use of contrasts.
This animated short film was showcased in Tribeca’s ‘Shorts: Whoopi’s Wonderful World of Animation’ category. Writer and director Connie Qin He showcases a signature animation style which feels very Pixar-esque. But this comes as no surprise as a former Pixar artist whose previous credits include working in the Animation Department for Love, Death & Robots (2019) and Inside Out 2 (2024).
Its animation style is bright and whimsical, yet it tackles a rather bleak subject matter. The protagonist, Ada is exhausted from a long day. Attempting to achieve a good night’s sleep, she tosses and turns with her pillow covering her ears. But the noises from the upstairs apartment become louder and louder inside her head. Relying on visuals and sound design – this animated short doesn’t need dialogue to tell its story.
Dear Upstairs Neighbors: Neon & Edgy Animation Style
The style here is neon and edgy. Interestingly, the way the character moves feels like we’re reading live pages from a comic book. The character’s big eyes look back at us, full of hope and wonder. But we empathise for her situation, which for many of us can be highly relatable. There’s an intelligent fusion here between childlike animation mixed with an adult protagonist. Although, throughout Ada’s journey and long-lasting quest for a peaceful night, contrasts come into play again. She’s toying between the heaven and hell of sleep. Ada imagines sleeping in a serene, heaven-like environment as she is transported into the clouds and surrounded in white light.
But then hell-like imagery descends upon her. Booming rock music from loudspeakers traps her in with fire and smoke billowing around her. Dark circles and bags fill beneath her eyes. External factors impact and distract her search and quiet cries for internal peace as she imagines everything that could be causing such sounds. From the action of bowling to the noise of roller skates. Its sparky animation sees Ada battle between the dream world and reality as she tries to maintain her peace and sanity along her dark quest for a peaceful sleep.
Blurring the Lines Between Dreams & Reality
Although, Dear Upstairs Neighbors is an artist-first AI-assisted animated short film with hand-painted artwork. Connie Qin He worked with researchers at Google DeepMind to steer the direction of her artistic vision. This short film adopts a ‘living painting’ style which showcases digital lines and brushstrokes to create this ‘paint’ texture effect.
Battling against fatigue and insomnia, Ada becomes immersed into a fantasy that blurs the lines between dreams and reality. This animation style certainly makes its audience feel immersed into Ada’s dream state and search for a peaceful sanity amidst the noisy chaos.
This short constantly makes its audience asks questions; has Ada conquered insomnia if she’s already deep into this dream state? Although this short film displays quite a simple story in just its 6-minute runtime, its highly stylised art direction and strong protagonist creates an emotional depth – displaying a film worth investing in.
Connie Qin He showcases a strong, signature animation style. Beautifully artistic with stunning animated visuals, Dear Upstairs Neighbors sparks imagination and brings a wonderful depth to animation shorts.
Rating: 4 Stars
Dear Upstairs Neighbors is part of Filmotomy’s coverage on Tribeca Film Festival 2026.
You can also read reviews from our coverage including Panther Pat (2026) here.