[INTERVIEW] ‘The Bird’s Placebo’ Animator, Rami Jarboui (Sundance Animator Spotlight Series 2026 #2)

Today we continue our annual tradition of getting to know the animators at the Sundance Film Festival. Our next animator to profile is Rami Jarboui who has a new short at the festival, The Bird’s Placebo

How did you get started animating?

RJ: This is my first short in animation, actually. I started directing short fiction film, live actions. And with this story in particular, I found that animation is the best option since also I studied multimedia animation and 3D and 2D in university, so I had that kind of experience…I have also found that animation gives you that space to explore some subjects and some ideas that maybe you can do in live action.

Why don’t you tell the audience a little bit about The Bird’s Placebo?

RJ: Yeah, The Birds of Placebo was written as a very personal film. Back at the time, I had just lost my brother like two years ago. He was living in Europe, and so I was very interested about the condition of immigrants, especially from Africa there, and how they get treated, especially now with the migration crisis, et cetera. And so I wanted to have a different take on that subject, a more, let’s say, a more spiritual take and more universal and maybe also with a little bit of reflection beyond those official narrative.

So the story starts with this young kid who’s on a wheelchair. He’s a young Tunisian man in this popular neighborhood and his father is in prison. His mother worked so hard to provide for the family and he just dreams of flying. He feels he’s stuck. He wants to see the world and of course the problem of visas and everything and his condition. He found himself even depressed with this situation. And to help family, he sells weed, he’s a dealer. Until one day a client didn’t have money to buy some weed and he offered him a bird and told him this is a very special rare bird that his uncle brought him in exchange. And so he accepts this bird. And then an accident happened and the guy finds himself reincarnated into this bird and we go with this bird into this, let’s say, epic journey of self-discovery.

How did you decide on the visual style of the animation? You use different techniques

RJ: My idea was I like animation. I like the freedom that animation gives, but also I like human emotion in classic cinema. And I always find an actor can give that powerful emotional touch, especially as you saw the film is very emotional and family-based. So I didn’t want to lose that feature of classic cinema. And so we brought them and we filmed on a green screen. Yeah, all the scenes and then everything was added. The background, the location, the bird, the 3D. So only the faces and like you said, the eye, everything that was real. And then we added everything in 3D and 2D. And I think that also helps to give a very specific look for the film.

What made you decide to make your lead disabled in a wheel chair?

RJ: Yeah, it’s actually the family is inspired by two family I met like eight years ago when I was filming a documentary.

And they have this kid who was disabled. But he told me, my problem is what I want in life is he really wants to travel, that’s his hobby. Like, “I don’t have any other hobbies.” Like my condition. He said, I have a lot of disabled friends, and they are dealing with it just fine, they are very courageous. But my problem is not the disability. My problem is my dream doesn’t align with my situation.

And we talk also about the country at the time, was just coming out of the revolution in Tunisia. And he felt like it’s a metaphor, like the country is stuck and wants to develop and find new hopes for the young people. So that relationship between that young Tunisian man and the state of the country created, I think, also the character.

You must have been so excited to get accepted into Sundance

RJ: …Yeah, it’s different, it’s out of the box. You know you can find other films they are very good, but they are like classically good, conventionally. But Sundance always has that craziness in it. So it’s very symbolic for me, Sundance especially.

You can watch the full interview with Rami below and if you are attending the festival make sure to check out The Bird’s Placebo as part of the Animated Short Film Program.