Float (2019 film)

A father is playing with his infant son, Alex, in the front yard of their house. When the father picks a dandelion and blows off the seeds, Alex begins to float in mid-air. The father is initially amazed, but grows concerned when neighbors notice Alex and hurriedly takes his son inside. Time passes and Alex, now four years old, is still floating around the house. When Alex and his father go for a walk, the father keeps him on a lead and loads his backpack with rocks to weigh him down.^[1]

When they pass a playground, Alex escapes from his bondage and begins floating again. The father tries to drag Alex away from the park, but Alex's frustrated cries cause the father to label him as abnormal (the only moment of dialogue in the film). Alex grounds himself and begins to cry. The remorseful father holds Alex in his arms and sits on the swing set, swinging back and forth to reinvigorate his son, and launches him into the air.^[1] Alex continues to float as his father happily runs underneath him.^[2][3][4][5]

• Eli Fucile as baby Alex
• Luna Watson as four-year-old Alex
• Bobby Rubio as Alex's father
• Mika Kubo as additional voices

Float is a short film that was directed and written by Bobby Rubio, and produced by Krissy Cababa and Pixar Animation Studios; it was distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.^[6] It is the fourth film of Pixar's SparkShorts program, and it lasts approximately seven minutes.^[7] In January 2019, Rubio described the program as "different films from the kinds of films" developed at Pixar, while executive producer Lindsey Collins said that the shorts are referred to as "SparkShorts" because Pixar "[wants] to discover that creative spark" in its employees.^[8] Rubio viewed the program as "a wonderful opportunity to tell [his] story".^[8] He stated that Float is inspired by his son,^[7] who is autistic, and that he identified with the father from the short.^[9] Rubio said that the boy from the short is "different from other children" since he can float.^[7] He commented that while "the father loves his son wholeheartedly without restriction" at first, this begins to be altered by what the other people say;^[1] as a result, he has to choose between deciding they are right and ignoring their thoughts.^[1]

Since his son was growing up, Rubio decided he had "to tell this story" and "started storyboarding it".^[6] The initial storyboards contained Caucasian characters, but one of Rubio's co-workers told him that he should depict Filipino-American characters instead. While he was initially unsure of this idea, he decided to make this change to "empower [his son] and empower children of color".^[6] Rubio wanted to incorporate some of his own features as a Filipino-American into the characters' designs in order to make them look "authentic".^[10] He commented that he was very "proud" that Float was released during Filipino American History Month.^[10] Rubio said that seeing the viewers react to some scenes in the way he had expected them to was "amazing", stating that he "totally loved it".^[10] According to Rubio, viewers had "several different" interpretations of the film.^[11]

Krissy Cababa described Float as "a powerful story about being a parent and the struggles you go through as a parent with your kids".^[6] She also characterized it as "an important story about acceptance and being able to love and celebrate the people in our lives".^[6] Cababa said the short "was about celebrating people for who they are and not who you want them to be".^[6] She stated that "people are talking about representation" due to Float, "sharing what this means to them and its importance".^[6] She mentioned that the short is "a huge deal".^[11] Cababa said the short had received "so much support" and a "positive feedback", saying this had been "really overwhelming".^[11]

Barney Jones, who composed the music for the previous "SparkShorts" entry Smash and Grab, composed the music for Float. The score was released on February 28, 2020.^[12]

Float was released on Disney+ on November 12, 2019,^[13] alongside fellow "SparkShorts" entries Purl, Smash and Grab, and Kitbull.^{[1][14][15][16][17]}