Niceland

United Kingdom 2025
English/Spanish
15 Minutes

Animated – llustrated

Director
Julian Gallese

Writer
Julian Gallese

Producers
Tom Edgerton
Julian Gallese

A wannabe singer and a world-weary icon search for purpose in a town losing its identity. If they don’t act, they’ll disappear—just like everything else. Visionary Director Julian Gallese, invites you to take a trip through Niceland.

There we meet two lost souls: one searching for purpose, the other for an exit. A restless milkman-turned-singer dreams of stardom, longing to escape the mundane and make a name for himself. As a world-weary pop icon arrives to this idyllic coastal town for what may be his final performance, exhausted by fame and desperate for solitude. Their fates become entwined when a runaway cat, sets off a chain of events to upend their lives, and force confrontation with an unwelcome reality.

Niceland explores impermanence, identity, and the meaning of home in a world where change is inevitable. Through its humor and striking animation, the film presents a town in transition, a community clinging to what was, and characters trying to define who they are before they disappear. Unfolding over a single storm laden day, the consistently influential weather serves as both a literal and metaphorical force—uncontrollable, indifferent, and transformative—much like migration, gentrification, and the passage of time itself.

Where BoJack Horseman meets Fantastic Planet—a visually rich and thematically poignant experience lures audiences in with its charm before leaving them with something to ponder. When everything is shifting, what makes a place home, and a life within it purposeful?

Director
Julian Gallese

Julian Gallese is a London based animator and filmmaker originally from San José, Costa Rica. He received his MA from the Royal College of Art in 2020. Julian is now Associate Lecturer of animation at Bath Spa University and has been an invited speaker at OCAD University in Toronto, the Pratt Institute in New York, CETAV in Costa Rica, and ESCINE in Mexico City. Beyond his extensive music video commissions and illustration work, Julian has written and directed five entirely handmade and self financed short films that have played at festivals worldwide.

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