2027 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Praying Mantis’ Director Joe Hsieh

Joe Hsieh’s 2025 animated short Praying Mantis follows a mutant mantis mother who preys on men to save her child. A failed hunt exposes her past and dark secrets.

A Story Changed by a Failed Hunt

The protagonist of *Praying Mantis* is a mutant praying mantis mother who seduces and hunts men to save her child. When one operation goes awry, the past and secrets she has kept hidden rise to the surface. Though she has a horrifying appearance, the story focuses on the pressure faced by one person forced to make repeated choices to survive.

Building Transformation in 18 Minutes

Director Joe Hsieh captures this character’s transformation from human to monster within an 18-minute short. Maintaining the texture of pencil drawings, the director chose frame-by-frame 2D animation to portray the character’s expressions and camera movements in greater detail. It is a fusion of the rough feel of hand-drawn lines and the tension of a psychological thriller.

Horror That Does Not Judge Motherhood

In the film, the praying mantis becomes a subject where motherhood, sexuality, violence, and survival intersect. Hsieh explains that he did not want to judge the two mothers by a single moral standard. Thus, the horror in this work comes less from the monster’s identity than from the weight of the choices that arise when love and survival put pressure on each other.

This Taiwan-Hong Kong production was invited to the Orizzonti Short Film Competition at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival and the Short Cuts competition at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, and won Best Animated Short Film at the 2025 Golden Horse Awards.

Source: Miyu Distribution film information · Taiwan Pavilion film information · Cartoon Brew interview