Painter and animator Florence Miailhe’s hauntingly beautiful hand-painted short was inspired by her dad Jean’s fellow resistance fighter, Jewish French swimmer Alfred Nakache, who competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and 1948 London Olympics after surviving imprisonment in Auschwitz, where his wife and daughter were murdered.
As her resistance fighter father’s hero and the subject of her latest animated short film, Alfred Nakache has always been a source of inspiration for filmmaker Florence Miailhe.And her depiction of the legendary swimmer and Auschwitz survivor embodies both the wild fluidity of art and the undying strength of animated storytelling.
Directed by the 70-year-old César Award winner Miailhe and produced by Academy Award winner Ron Dyens () and Luc Camilli of Sacrebleu Productions and XBO FILMS, depicts the life of Nakache, the Jewish French swimmer who competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics in Nazi Germany and was then imprisoned at infamous Polish death camp, where he lost both his wife and daughter.
After surviving Auschwitz, Nakache made a triumphant return and competed in the 1948 Olympic Games.In 2019, he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.The short, part of the 98th Academy Awards shortlist for Animated Short Film, is available to watch here: Papillon | Butterfly | JFI Monthly Short: December 2025 Miailhe’s film, told through animating oil paintings on canvas and glass, focuses a timely and urgent lens on resilience in the face of terror and hand-crafted art amidst the rise of digital storytelling.
The story pays tribute to Miailhe’s father and French resistance fighter, Jean, as well as the swimmer he fought alongside during the war.Victoria Davis: Ron Dyens: I had known about and appreciated Florence’s work for a long time.We used to attend French short film festivals together as far back as 25 years ago.
When Florence’s long-time producer retired, she very kindly contacted me.Florence Miailhe: We had never worked together before, but Ron knew everything about my career and my biography and suggested we work on a short film together.I suggested that we make a short about Nakache, which I had already had in mind for quite some time.
VD: FM: My father knew the swimming champion and always spoke of him with great respect.At the time, I was taking swimming lessons from Alfred’s younger brother, William Nakache, and at every lesson my father never failed to remind me: “You know, William is the little brother of Alfred Nakache, the great swimming champion!” The day I met Alfred, I was 10-years-old, and he must have been in his fifties (which is very old to a 10-year-old child) and I remember thinking he was very old to be a swimming champion.I remember my father whispered to me, “Show him how you swim the butterfly stroke!” So I found myself having to do two or three swimming movements in front of him, feeling quite awkward.
Years later, out of curiosity, I searched for Alfred Nakache on the internet, and that’s when I discovered his story, which had never been told to me, probably because I was too young.VD: FM: I wanted all the moments I showed to be linked to water, but also to share the most important moments of his life, the ones you never forget.Each step of his life is represented, with moments of happiness or, on the contrary, of horror and mourning.
This film is also a film about memory.Through the life of this man, who was both a champion and a victim of the antisemitism of his time, I wanted the film to make us reflect on our history at a time when human rights, fundamental freedoms, and civil rights are under threat.There is a constant need to deconstruct antisemitic and racist clichés, especially at a time when they are coming back strongly.
RD: I find this film to be of very high narrative quality, particularly because of the incredible work on transitions.Moving through the different stages of Alfred’s life with such a technique, which plays on the imperfection of the line, is great art.For me, the film is very powerful, and I think the messages it conveys are very clear - especially the final line of the film: “Come on, little fishes.
No fear.” Alfred is a symbol of resilience around the world and so we talk - and must talk - more and more about this type of hero in our times.VD: FM: I have a background in painting so as soon as I started animation, I used very painterly techniques: dry pastel, sand, and painting on glass.For , the technique is a bit different from the one I used for my feature film, .
The backgrounds are painted on canvas, which allows for richer textures than glass painting, which is what I used to create the water.But the principle of animating directly under the camera remains the same in all my films.I had already done scenes in where I found a way to render the transparency of water, and I reused it for .
VD: RD: Our principle at Sacrebleu is to adapt to the director’s requests and requirements and then find the appropriate financing, not to impose the same workflow on all our productions.If there was a difficulty, it was the length of the production process, because this technique obviously takes a lot of time and requires very specialized animators, who are hard to find.Compositing and color grading were also very important stages, because it was necessary to give visual coherence and a very high artistic standard to a film by a director-painter.
FM: I made my previous short films on my own, but for I brought back two animators who had already worked with me on my feature film.I already had experience with this type of production and technique, so it felt easy to me.But some shots were harder to represent.
Each time, it was a challenge to find the right way to depict water.The approach is not the same for the sea, swimming pools, rivers, or retention basins.VD: RD: Making a biopic is always risky.
You have to keep the right distance and avoid hagiography, complacency toward the person portrayed, or self-satisfaction in having made a tribute to one of your idols.Florence could easily have failed, especially since her father had been a member of the French Resistance with Alfred and spoke of him in extremely glowing terms.That could have influenced the author’s point of view.
But Florence, with all her experience and the recognition she has received in the animation world, embraced this film wholeheartedly and professionally and made it what it is today.VD: FM: The sequence of Nakache meeting his wife was one of my favorites.I animated it myself, but I’m always surprised when I manage to achieve what I have in mind.
The same goes for the sequence where an older Nakache plunges his head into the water and blows bubbles.My way of creating the bubbles was very random, and I wasn’t sure if the result would work.Chloé Sorin, one of the animators, also beautifully animated the moment when Nakache emerges from the murky pool water into the seas of Réunion Island.
Aurore Peuffier’s depiction of the butterfly stroke was very successful, too. VD: Flow,Butterfly RD: I have always been a great admirer of silent films, which prove that a body and a situation are often enough to express essential and universal emotions.My first fiction short, , was in fact a film without dialogue and was selected, among others, at Telluride.This reinforces my conviction that a film is first and foremost a story before it is a technique.
I was fascinated by , Gints’ first film, and I have been carried for 25 years by the magnetism of Florence’s films, so it was only natural that I would want to work with these two great talents.Since their stories are universal, humanist, and… very well written, I could only be enthusiastic.VD: RD: The film’s premiere at the Berlinale, in a city and a country that perfectly suited certain messages conveyed by the film.
And the fact that the film won the Crystal Bear Award for Best Short Film (Generation KPlus Competition) was emotionally very powerful.Also, the Musée de l’Immigration in Paris purchasing several paintings from the film was an important moment of recognition.FM: Yes, of course, the premiere in Berlin.
But also, the first screening with the team.That’s the moment you realize that the work you’ve done together moves and touches you, even though you know the images by heart.On that occasion, one of Nakache’s nephews and a niece were present.
They recognized their uncle in the portrait I made of him, despite the artistic liberties I took.They appreciated the film’s poetic approach to telling this tragic story, which is the greatest reward I could get.VD: RD: I think the audience just needs to let themselves be carried along by the film’s flow.
FM: It’s a film about resistance and solidarity.I don’t think Nakache was a superhuman.Many survivors of the camps drew life resources from sport, art, and literature.
Nakache was supported by his fellow swimmers to help him regain his strength.The film shows this sense of brotherhood that sets Nakache back in motion.But it is also a film about the pleasure of swimming and water.
I would like this film to move people through its sensuality as much as through the story it tells.Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime.She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment.
Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.
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