A young girl goes to the hospital after her appendix bursts. | Everybody Goes to the Hospital

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Everybody Goes to the Hospital is used with permission from Tiffany Kimmel. Learn more at https://everybodygoestothehospital.com.

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In 1963, 4-year-old little Mata suffers from strong stomach pains. But she's considered the “weak one” in her family, and her symptoms are dismissed as lingering flu symptoms. But, one week later, her appendix bursts, and her parents have no choice but to take her to the hospital.

But what is supposed to be an emergency appendectomy turns out to be much more harrowing and horrible for the little girl, resulting in a long hospitalization, long-term after-effects and the sad realization of her parents' limitations.

Directed and written by Tiffany Kimmel, this animated short chronicles one little girl's descent into a madhouse of medical and familial horror. Relayed in a voiceover of an innocent little girl and told like a bedtime story, it begins with a moment of physical discomfort that escalates into intense suffering. As Mata requires more attention and care, her vulnerability and need also expose the underlying cold callousness of her family system.

The striking 3-D puppet-based animation style -- courtesy of lead animator Eric Oxford -- is a fitting medium to bring a story about a broken body to life, and its muddied colors and awkward shapes and movements emphasize the twists, turns and tortures that Mata undergoes, as well as the cumulative crippling effect they have on her. But the style also captures the emotional rigidity of the experience, the faces of the adults never quite relaying any empathy for the little girl.

The emergency appendectomy escalates into additional surgeries, endured by Mata with a remarkable forbearance and requiring lengthy hospital stays. Captured in dank, dark lighting and cinematography, Mata's world is a bleak one, and deeply lonely. And it becomes even more so as her parents reveal their toxicity, treating Mata as a burden and failure. Mata finally does make it home, but we get the sense that she hasn't quite recovered from the trauma of her experience.

Based on the personal experiences of the director's mother, "Everybody Goes to the Hospital" is visually striking, taking advantage of animation's unique qualities to relay the spooky, childlike fairy-tale aspect of a child's point-of-view, where a more realistic portrayal of the story's events would probably be too sad or distressing for viewers to endure. But above all, it's a remarkable piece of storytelling, capturing many layers and nuances while preserving Mata's singular perspective. Like many fairy tales, it relates a traumatic experience of the worst aspects of human nature through a child's eyes, with all her innocence -- yet still painfully aware of how alone and emotionally abandoned she is.

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A young girl goes to the hospital after her appendix bursts. | Everybody Goes to the Hospital
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