This Beautiful Animated Short About A Gay Kid And His Crush Will Definitely Make You Cry

Turns out Pixar aren’t the only folks in the animation game capable of making you weep like a baby. In a Heartbeat is a four-minute short film about a young gay kid and his crush, and it is beautiful beyond belief.

Written and directed by Beth David and Esteban Bravo during their final year at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida, the dialogue-free short follows a high school student who is so in love with the most popular kid in school that his heart literally leaps out of his chest.

“We want to put out a message of love and self-acceptance to all the kids and young people who struggle to identify as LGBT+,” said David in an especially adorable video plugging the film’s Kickstarter page last year.

“We hope our film will inspire an understanding in people from all walks of life, that the heart wants what the heart wants, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” added Bravo.

Given how rarely we see LGBTIQ love represented in animation – let alone animation as polished and well-produced as this – it’s little wonder that the film absolutely smashed its crowdfunding goal, raising $14,000 on a $3,000 target. It’s also been a massive success on release, racking up more than 3.5 million views on YouTube in just two days, and spreading across social media like wildfire.

everything about “In a Heartbeat” is amazing and pure please go watch pic.twitter.com/Cy9bmTzbGY

— A.J. (@GayPostOff) August 1, 2017

I know every gay & their str8 roommate has shared this- but damn it, I cried. Soft representation is so important ?https://t.co/WlqM8r1lLw

— BENNY ? (@BenJPierce) July 31, 2017

i cant stress how important it is to show young kids figuring out n dealing w their sexuality in a positive light go support in a heartbeat

— firelord zuko stan (@summeraristotle) July 31, 2017

Seriously though, someone call John Lasseter and get these two a job.