Animation Demo Reel 2025

Prsonal Animated Films

• _{One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six}
• _{| CalArts MFA thesis film}
• _{FISH | CalArts First Year film}
• _{Little Dan I short film on ZippyFrames}
  
• Echo | loop
• Happy New Year | short film
• Throw It I short film
• _{To You | short film}
• _{welcome I 1 min film}
• Be a Good Student | 1 min film
• Pencil Films | collection
• _{Goodbye, Rota | Undergrad thesis film}

Commissioned Animated Films
(MV) MaoDeng’s Paradise | Modern Sky

• 2024 Title Film | CalArts Art Program
• Animation and Illustration | MVMT Labs
  
• Animation | Cargill

• Gaze | Feinaki GIF Competition
• _{Weaving Paradise | Feinaki GIF Competition}
  
• 
  
• GIFs
• loop collection
  
• long braid stickers | imessages

Comics

• GAME | one-page comic
• confession | 16-page zine
• 4-panel postcards comic
• diary comics

Handcrafted Work

• 3d physical puppet
• ceramic work
  

About
Select Film Festicals & Press
About Teaching

Yingdan Lai is an animation director from China, now based in California. She is best known for her short films, which have screened at festivals worldwide. Her work explores narrative experimental animation inspired by her childhood, drawing attention to subtle moments that might otherwise go unnoticed. These moments reveal emotional textures of confusion, sorrow, melancholy, and longing, often threaded with traces of gentle humor. Central to her storytelling is the portrayal of nuanced, unexpected character performances that blur the line between memory and imagination. She earned her MFA in Experimental Animation from CalArts in 2024. Currently, she teaches in the CalArts Community Arts Program and continues making her new films.

賴穎丹是一位來自中國、現居加州的動畫導演，專注於實驗敘事動畫。她的作品曾入選多個國際知名影展。她的創作常將童年的純真與好奇，與成年後安靜而反思的凝視交織在一起。她特別關注那些常被忽略的細微時刻，並展現其中的情感質地：困惑、悲傷、憂鬱或者渴望。在這些情緒中，她又輕柔地穿插幽默。她的敘事核心在於刻畫細膩且出人意料的人物表演，模糊了記憶與想像的界線。她於 2024 年獲得加州藝術學院實驗動畫碩士學位。目前，她在 CalArts 社區藝術專案中擔任教師，並持續創作新作品。