Walt Disney Animation Studios is celebrating a milestone: the 10th anniversary of its Short Circuit Experimental Films program. Two new shorts from the program, Life Drawings and Maddie & the Test, premiere on Disney+ on March 18, 2026.
Short Circuit is an internal program at Walt Disney Animation Studios where any employee can pitch a short film idea. The goal is to surface new voices, take creative risks, and experiment with new techniques. This year marks a decade since the program launched.
Life Drawings
Director Larry Wu has been at Walt Disney Animation Studios since 2004, with credits on films including Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Moana, Raya and the Last Dragon, and Moana 2. He first pitched Life Drawings about ten years ago, drawing from personal experience.
The short follows a main character who discovers a love of art as a child, eventually passing that passion down to his own daughter. Wu describes it as “the circle of life” told through a series of self-portraits across different stages of life.
Life Drawings uses a blend of hand-drawn animation and CG. Nearly half of the shots are hand-drawn, with CG backgrounds filling the rest. Two of the Studio’s rising hand-drawn animation artists, Tyler Pacana and Austin Traylor, were key contributors to the project.
Maddie & the Test
Director Heather M. Roberts Russell joined Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2018. Her credits include Ralph Breaks the Internet, Frozen 2, Raya and the Last Dragon, Encanto, Strange World, Wish, Moana 2, and Zootopia 2.
Her Short Circuit short was inspired by her niece, who has dyslexia. Maddie & the Test follows 10-year-old Maddie as she takes a test and works to overcome her anxiety and self-doubt. Roberts Russell spent significant time researching the experience of dyslexia, consulting with experts at the UCLA Center for Dyslexia and speaking with people within the Studio who have the learning disorder.
“My vision for this was twofold,” Roberts Russell said. “First, it was about showing what this one experience of dyslexia could look like on the page. Second, it was about nailing the emotional component of the story.”
The short combines hand-drawn animation supervised by Disney Legend Mark Henn with CG animation and effects from artists across the Studio.
Where to Watch
Both Life Drawings and Maddie & the Test are available to stream on Disney+ starting March 18, 2026.
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Source: The Walt Disney Company
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