TSRB Storyteller’s Short Film Finds International Success
Georgia Tech Digital Media Ph.D. candidate Shamim Shoomali has added an impressive new chapter to her creative journey. A TSRB researcher known for her interdisciplinary work with interactive media and storytelling, Shoomali’s latest short film has been making its way across international film festivals, earning awards and recognitions along the way.
Paw and Scissors Trailer
Shoomali, who currently works under Dr. Brian Magerko, first told TSQ ATL earlier this year that her practice centers on exploring narrative through visual expression and emotional resonance. Her short film, Paw and Scissors, continues that thread, drawing from earlier animation work in Iran during her master’s and expanding it with new technical and narrative layers.
A four-minute animated short composed of more than 6,000 hand-drawn frames, Paw and Scissors began during the pandemic as a personal exploration of connection and care. “Paw and Scissors is created to celebrate our differences, the quiet strength of sharing, and the joy of experiencing a fantastical slice of life,” Shoomali says. The film follows Daisy, a stylist in an animal salon where every creature, no matter how unusual, is welcomed. Problems get solved collaboratively; attributes of one animal help another. As Shoomali puts it, the story is “a reminder that we are more beautiful together.”
The project took roughly two and a half years to complete, beginning as pen-and-paper sketches, moving into Procreate on an iPad, and eventually being finalized in TVPaint. Shoomali also collaborated with a music and sound designer (H.R. Hashemi Oskouei) to bring the world to life. Even as her academic research now shifts toward interactive installations and mental-health–focused experiences (including upcoming work using the IMZ in the Georgia Tech Library), she describes Paw and Scissors as a deeply meaningful continuation of her long-standing animation practice.
Since completion, the film has gained remarkable traction. It has won multiple awards — including Excellence in Art and the Press Award at Venaria in Corto in Italy, Best Overall Film and Best Short Narrative Film at AMSC Trailblazer in Atlanta, as well as Best Short Film and the Audience Choice Award at the Atlanta Technical College Film Festival. It has also been a finalist at the Lampa Festival in Russia and Shortcut in Serbia, a nominee at Int. Short Mood U30 in Germany and YORA in Kenya, and a semi-finalist in the Woman, Life, Freedom Film Festival.
Shoomali says the film’s reception has been both unexpected and affirming: the audience responding most strongly are those who see their own experiences reflected in the quiet, collaborative moments of the story. “It portrays a small world where every creature is welcome,” she notes.