Director: Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski
Cast: James Hyndman, Simone Paradis, Gabrielle Dallaire, Charlotte Loseth
The Girl Who Cried Pearls is a 2025 Canadian animated fantasy short film directed by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, running seventeen minutes and carrying a 7.4 on IMDb. It blends fairy-tale imagery with a dark moral fable about poverty, desire, and the cost of a desperate bargain.
What is The Girl Who Cried Pearls about?
In a world where hardship shapes every decision, a young boy living in poverty becomes captivated by an extraordinary girl — one whose tears crystallize into pearls the moment they fall. What begins as tender fascination quickly entangles him in a web far more dangerous than he anticipated. Forces of greed and hunger, both his own and others', close in as the stakes rise from longing to survival itself. The film withholds easy resolution, asking instead what a person truly sacrifices when love and desperation share the same face.
Cast & crew
The short is directed by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, the Montreal-based duo known for their distinctive handcrafted visual style. Voice performances are contributed by James Hyndman, Simone Paradis, Gabrielle Dallaire, and Charlotte Loseth, each lending texture to characters whose motivations hover somewhere between innocence and moral compromise.
Context & significance
Persian-speaking audiences have long embraced animated fables that draw on folklore and allegory — a tradition rooted in the rich storytelling heritage of the region. The Girl Who Cried Pearls speaks directly to that sensibility: its fairy-tale bones conceal a meditation on class struggle, longing, and the moral weight of a single choice. For diaspora viewers navigating the distance between their heritage and their adopted countries, the film's themes of scarcity and sacrifice carry an emotional resonance that transcends borders. The animation is available in its original English audio on K-Time, with no dubbing or subtitles — the visual storytelling is expressive enough to carry meaning across language.
Where & how to watch
The Girl Who Cried Pearls is available to stream on K-Time in original English audio — no Persian dub or subtitle track is included. Watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone with no VPN required, no geo-blocking, and no extra download. Cancel anytime.