Runaway (animated short)

Runaway is a 2009 animated short by Canadian animator Cordell Barker. The film received a special jury award for short films at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and was named the best animated short film at the 2010 Genie Awards.

The film was also selected for the Sundance Film Festival and was short-listed, though not nominated, for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. It was also included in the Animation Show of Shows.

The film's story takes place aboard an out-of-control train. Barker intended the film to be a parable about life, and how the ruling class tries in vain to insulate itself from the fate suffered by the lower classes:

The metaphor of this film is that, whether you notice the jeopardy or not, everybody is trapped on this track, and we’re all going to the same place,” Barker explains. “I’m a bit of a Cassandra. I’m always feeling like I’m looking around and seeing this really apparent jeopardy. But a lot of people I know [have] that kind of disbelief that anything can shake their normal day-to-day life,” he says. “I keep thinking, ‘Man, we’re doomed.'

The film was produced in Winnipeg by Michael Scott and Derek Mazur for the National Film Board of Canada. The musical score for the film was composed by Benoît Charest, known for composing the film score for the animated film Les Triplettes de Belleville.