A Boy's Heart Pops Out of His Chest to Pursue His Crush in Touching Animated Short Film

In November of 2016, two senior Computer Animation majors at Ringling College of Art + Design launched a Kickstarter to raise $3,000 for their animated short film thesis project. $14,000 and six months later, Beth and Esteban have released the first trailer for In A Heartbeat.

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Over a heart-pounding score, we meet Sherwin, a closeted middle-schooler whose heart quite literally pops out his chest to chase the boy of his dreams and confess his love. The 25-second-trailer is beautifully animated and already enough to give me full-body goosebumps.

"Being gay is a subject that hasn't been wildly explored in computer animation," the animators explain in their Kickstarter video. "We want to put out a message of love and self-acceptance to all the kids and young people who struggle to identify with LGBT+, just like Sherwin does."

This is an exciting time for queer children's television programming! Nickelodeon's new show Loud House will feature two gay dads, Julie Andrews has a gender-neutral character on her Netflix series, and shows like Yuri!!! On Ice and Steven Universe are unapologetically queer and beloved.

The creators added, "The heart wants what the heart wants, and there's nothing wrong with that."

In A Heartbeat is coming to a small screen near you this summer! Watch the adorable trailer below.