Purl is the first release from Pixar’s new animation studio SparkShorts. In this 8 minute short Pixar tells a powerful story of discrimination at work and the difficulties women can face in new working environments.

Joining B.R.O Capital, a male dominated workplace, Purl (a pink ball of yarn) is left out of meetings, social events and water cooler chat. In order to fit in, Purl adopts new behaviors and aggression to be “one of the boys”, a similie for women trying to break the same prejudices they face in corporate cultures.

After becoming “one of the boys”, Purl gets the opportunity to change the culture from within, changing the environment into an inclusive, diverse and equal opportunity workplace.

Written and directed by Kristen Lester and produced by Gillian Libbert-Duncan, “Purl” is based on Lester’s experiences in the male-dominated field of animation.

If you’re unfamiliar with SparkShorts, they are a new initiative within Pixar designed to experiment with new animation techiques and approaches, in the words of Jim Morris – President at Pixar…

“SparkShorts is a program designed to discover new storytellers, explore new storytelling techniques, and experiment with new production workflows. These films are unlike anything we’ve ever done at Pixar, providing an opportunity to unlock the potential of individual artists and their inventive filmmaking approaches on a smaller scale than our normal fare.”