Blood Tea and Red String (2006)

Plot – Spoilers:
Creatures that resemble a wolf-crow hybrid are expert dollmakers living inside an oak tree. Mice elite, perhaps gentry or of nobility, drop by with the portrait of a young woman and order her lifesize model. But once the job’s done, the oak creatures get attached to her as she becomes a part of their lives, even sitting in with them for dinner. So when the time comes to hand her over, they refuse an increased offer from the micelords and instead string her up high in the oak tree, almost in reverence. But the micelords return under the cover of dark to steal her and thus begins a fabled quest to retrieve her, involving encounters with a shaman frog and a black widow.

This is a work of extraordinary beauty; one where you wouldn’t want to miss a single second, lest you miss a little detail. From the pretty sunflower twins to the flowing cellophane water, you’ll probably want to watch this a couple of times to soak in everything that went into creating this labor of love over twelve years.