The Dam Keeper

The Dam Keeper is a 2014 American animated short film directed by former Pixar art directors Robert Kondo and Daisuke Tsutsumi. It tells the story of Pig, an introverted youth who lives in a windmill and keeps a dark fog from engulfing his town. Although socially rejected by his peers, he is befriended by the artistic Fox. Kondo and Tsutsumi began developing the film while working on Monsters University and produced it through a Pixar co-op program. This is Tsutsumi's second short film, after 2011's Sketchtravel, and Kondo's first directorial effort. Producers Megan Bartel and Duncan Ramsay were also employees at Pixar. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film.

The Dam Keeper, an original animated short film by feature animation artists Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, tells the tale of a young pig encumbered with an important job, and the meeting of a new classmate who changes everything.

Dialogue

Narrator: At that age, I was almost too short to look outside. Through one of our windows, all I could see was the cloud, an ocean of ash, it suffocated everything. Out of the other window, I saw the people in town, out both, I saw darkness.

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Narrator: Dad had always said the job of a dam keeper is to keep the darkness away. But he never told me what to do when it surrounds you. His mask protected me from the cloud, but nothing I had, protected me from the people.

Taglines

• The Dam Keeper, an original animated short film by feature animation artists Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, tells the tale of a young pig encumbered with an important job, and the meeting of a new classmate who changes everything.

Cast

• Lars Mikkelsen as Narrator
• Courtney Lockwood as Pig