Asteria Announces New Animated Short All Heart From Oscar-Winning Filmmakers Michael Govier & Will McCormack and Executive Producer Natasha Lyonne

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LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 17, 2025--

Asteria, the next-gen film and animation studio, today announced ALL HEART, a new animated short film written and directed by Academy Award® winners Michael Govier & Will McCormack, the filmmaking duo behind the Oscar-winning Netflix short If Anything Happens I Love You.

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All Heart

The nine-minute animated short tells the deeply emotional story of a father’s journey to visit a young man with an extraordinary connection to his late daughter. Combining hand-drawn artistry by illustrator Jimmy Thompson and groundbreaking AI-animation techniques, ALL HEART is an exploration of grief, memory, and the transcendent power of love. The short has already qualified for Academy Award® consideration and will begin its official Oscar campaign this season.

The unique process behind ALL HEART integrated custom generative pipelines with traditional hand-drawn designs and storyboards to bring the animation to life. Starting with Thompson’s original art, Asteria trained a custom AI model to help its team of artists create additional production assets in his style. This same technology was then integrated into a traditional animation process for keyframing and in-betweening. Traditional editorial, compositing, scoring, and sound mixing followed, enlisting Los-Angeles-based creative talent at each phase of the process.

“After If Anything Happens I Love You, we had a clear vision of wanting to continue telling intimate human stories through animation, and ALL HEART is the next iteration of this journey,” said Govier and McCormack in a joint statement. “By integrating AI into these films, we’ve not only unlocked more freedom to art direct the animation, but we’ve also been able to bring more of our artistic visions from an idea to a completed short with the amount of time saved.”

The project was produced by Govier and McCormack, along with Kimberly Dennison (Apple TV+’s Stillwater ), Justin Lacob (the Academy Award® nominated Ninety-Five Senses ), as well as producer Carly Burgess (Sesame Workshop’s Helpsters ), with executive producers Natasha Lyonne, Bryn Mooser, Matthew Cherchio, Benjamin Michel, and Nick Confalone.

ALL HEART stands as the latest short film produced by Asteria, continuing the studio's mission to champion bold, artistic-driven storytelling through the use of industry-leading artificial intelligence technology. The project follows the recently announced ChikaBOOM! by visionary filmmaker c. Crag Patterson, featuring the all-star voice cast of Yara Shahidi, Natasha Lyonne, Daveed Diggs, Roy Wood Jr., and Tika Sumpter.

About Michael Govier:

Michael Govier is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, best known for his work as writer, director, and producer of the animated short If Anything Happens I Love You. The film, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 2021, was created in collaboration with Will McCormack and was later adapted into a graphic novel published by Andrews McMeel.

Currently, Govier is directing and writing Comet Beach, a feature animated film with Asteria Animation, while also writing a Tom and Jerry with McCormack and Rashida Jones, for Warner Bros. Animation. Additionally, he's in production on All Heart, an animated short film with Asteria Animation, and is developing a live-action feature that he co-wrote with McCormack.

In front of the camera, Govier has appeared in a variety of roles, including Eugene in the film Eugene, produced by Roman Coppola’s The Directors Bureau and Blue Tongue Films. He’s also been seen on TV in This Is Us (NBC), Dollface (Hulu), Just Add Magic (Amazon), Alex Inc. (ABC), and has made multiple appearances on Conan (TBS). His acting career also includes national commercials, short films, stage plays, and improv shows.

About Will McCormack:

Will McCormack is an Academy Award–winning director, writer, producer, actor, and author.

He won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for If Anything Happens I Love You, his directorial debut co-written and co-directed with Michael Govier. The poignant film, about parents grieving the loss of their daughter in a school shooting, is currently streaming on Netflix.

Most recently, Will wrapped production on The Invite, a feature he co-wrote with Rashida Jones for Annapurna and FilmNation. The film stars Edward Norton, Penélope Cruz, Seth Rogen, and Olivia Wilde.

Will is currently co-writing Tom and Jerry for Warner Bros. Animation, collaborating again with Govier and Jones.

His acclaimed documentary short A Swim Lesson, co-directed with Rashida Jones, won multiple festival awards and was shortlisted for the Academy Awards. It was released by PBS/POV, LA Times Short Docs, and XTR.

Will is also in production on two films with Asteria, a generative AI film and animation studio. He is directing All Heart (a short) and Comet Beach (a feature), both co-written with Govier.

A graphic novel adaptation of If Anything Happens I Love You, written by McCormack and Govier, was published by Andrews McMeel Universal and Simon & Schuster.

He was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Celeste and Jesse Forever, co-written with Rashida Jones. Other writing credits include Toy Story 4, A to Z (NBC), and Challenger Deep for Disney+, to be directed by Bob Persichetti.

Through their company Le Train Train, Will and Rashida Jones produced the hit series Claws (TNT), Kevin Can F**k Himself (AMC, starring Annie Murphy), Centerpiece (Quibi), and A to Z (NBC).

As an actor, Will won a Lucille Lortel Award for his performance in Paula Vogel’s “The Long Christmas Ride Home” and has appeared in numerous films and television series including “The Sopranos” and “Brothers and Sisters”.

About Asteria:

Asteria is a pioneering entertainment company at the intersection of technology and storytelling, dedicated to creating groundbreaking narratives across film, television, and immersive experiences.

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KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA CALIFORNIA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ENTERTAINMENT CELEBRITY FILM & MOTION PICTURES

SOURCE: Asteria

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PUB: 10/17/2025 06:00 PM/DISC: 10/17/2025 05:59 PM

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