CRACKED, An Animated Short By Jessica Rizk to Premiere At Dances With Films: NY

“Cracked”, an animated short by filmmaker Jessica Rizk, will make its North America Premiere at the Dances With Films: New York film festival, January 15-18, 2026.

Director, creator, and animator Rizk’s five-minute animated short examines the often alienating and dissociative experience of big city life through grating and perturbing visuals. 

Accompanied by an original score and sound design by Soren Anderson, “Cracked” portrays a dark journey into a woman's mind as she goes through the motions of her daily routine.

The protagonist's self-neglect manifests as flickering lights, invasive roaches, and accumulated grime, which become increasingly difficult to ignore and ultimately push her to her breaking point.

Says Rizk, “The visual inspiration for “Cracked” emerged from Picasso’s Blue Period. I wanted to use animation to explore a modern character drawn in a similar melancholic palette to Picasso’s and elaborate on the psyche that may germinate in such a dismal environment.”

It took two years of continuous work to complete just five minutes of 2D animation, requiring 7,000 hand-drawn frames. It was a labor of love that she shared with Anderson, her husband and frequent collaborator.

Rizk is a Lebanese-American director, writer, and multi-disciplinary artist, based in New York City. She completed a three-year animation program in 2024 at the Rhode Island School of Design and is currently working on a feature-length script for animation.

Anderson is a pianist and composer. He studied Economics at Harvard College.