Whidbey writer’s animated short wins Berlin prize, heads to Tribeca

Edward Jordon’s Whidbey Island roots are now part of a film traveling from Berlin to Tribeca. His animated short, Whale 52 - Suite for Man, Boy, and Whale, won the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival and is set to screen next month at The Clyde, giving Island County viewers a chance to see the project after its international run.

The Berlin jury said the film reached them through “two lonely souls” who found a common frequency, and also praised its distinctive drawing style. Berlinale lists the film as an 11-minute U.S. short in the Generation Kplus section, placing it among youth-focused works at one of Europe’s most closely watched festivals. The awards program later scheduled a Crystal Bear winners screening for Feb. 21, 2026, at HKW 1 - Miriam Makeba Auditorium.

Whale 52 is built around the legend of the 52-hertz whale, the famously solitary whale said to call at a frequency no other whale can hear. That sense of separation runs through the story Jordon wrote with Daniel Neiden. In the film, Kaufman, a grieving widower and school volunteer, meets Enam, a quiet third-grade boy who has not spoken all year. A magical pen and journal let the two hear each other’s unspoken cries, turning the story into a meditation on grief, communication and trust.

The project also carries a personal mark. The film was shaped in part by Jordon’s experiences working with people with special needs and by the loss of his partner more than 20 years ago. Daniel Neiden directed the short and Bill Plympton served as animator and executive producer, helping the film’s hand-drawn style push it into the territory of magical realism. IMDb lists Bruce Vilanch as the voice of Kaufman and Parker Allana Hughes as Enam.

The film’s festival path is still expanding. Tribeca includes Whale 52 in its Shorts: Whoopi’s Wonderful World of Animation program, with screenings set for June 6, 2026, at Shorts Theater at Spring Studios and June 13, 2026, at AMC 19th St. For Whidbey, it is a rare kind of cultural homecoming: a story shaped by island identity, grief and the language of whales now carrying a local creative voice onto one of the biggest stages in independent film.