
BEHIND THE LENS #523: Featuring Sarah Affleck and Jesse Weglein
From Behind The Lens by debbie lynn elias
June 8, 2026 · 1h 25m
About this episode
This episode features discussions on world premiere animation shorts and insights from their creators.
It's all about animation and Tribeca Film Festival this week on BEHIND THE LENS! And not just any animation, but world premiere animation shorts – DEAR UPSTAIRS NEIGHBORS and ROAR, both animated gems led by filmmakers with a Pixar pedigree – animation editor SARAH AFFLECK and writer/director JESSE WEGLEIN, respectively. First up, we're gonna roar with writer/director/editor/dp/and songwriter JESSE WEGLEIN and his beautiful short ROAR! ROAR follows a neurodivergent young girl with selective mutism who, after being uprooted from Tokyo to San Francisco, must navigate a chaotic new culture and an isolating silence by transforming her internal K-Pop soundtrack into a vibrant visual language to find her place—and her new roar. Then, more animation goodness for you from animation editor SARAH AFFLECK and DEAR UPSTAIRS NEIGHBORS. DEAR UPSTAIRS NEIGHBORS is the fantastical and all-too-relatable story of one woman's epic battle against her noisy neighbors for a good night's sleep. As I told Sarah Affleck, this short from director Connie He could directly pertain to my condo neighbors, and I'm betting some of your neighbors, too! This is one high-energy, FUN, short…
People in this episode
Host: debbie lynn elias
Guests: Sarah Affleck, Jesse Weglein
Topics covered
- animation
- Tribeca Film Festival
- short films
- neurodiversity
- K-Pop
- filmmaking
Keywords
- animation
- Tribeca Film Festival
- short films
- neurodivergent
- K-Pop
- Sarah Affleck
- Jesse Weglein
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Pixar
Books & works: DEAR UPSTAIRS NEIGHBORS, ROAR
Places: Tokyo, San Francisco
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