I missed this completely when I scrubbed the Sundance Film Festival 2013 selections list last month; I don't know how, since the filmmaker who has been written about a few times on this blog.

Kibwe Tavares is his name; during last year's Sundance event, another short film the British filmmaker directed – a work of animation titled Robots From Brixton – was selected for the shorts program. So back-to-back Sundance selections is obviously a great look.

This year, Tavares returned to Sundance with a short film titled Jonah, which mixes live-action and CGI work with what look like impressive results.

Here's how Jonah, is described:

Mbwana and his best friend Juma are two young men with big dreams. These dreams become reality when they photograph a gigantic fish leaping out of the sea and their small town blossoms into a tourist hot-spot as a result. But for Mbwana, the reality isn't what he dreamed – and when he meets the fish again, both of them forgotten, ruined and old, he decides only one of them can survive. Jonah is a big fish story about the old and the new, and the links and the distances between them. A visual feast, shot though with humour and warmth, it tells an old story in a completely new way.

The film stars a pair of young British actors whose names have also been mentioned on this blog a few times in the past – Daniel Kaluuya and Malachi Kirby. Veteran thespian Louis Mahoney co-stars as well.

Based on what I see in the trailer below, I can't wait to see the full short film, because this looks great! Needless to say, I've got my eye on Mr Tavares, after 2 impressive short films, and will be watching for what he does next:

Jonah Trailer from Factory Fifteen on Vimeo.