On a perfectly ordinary morning, Hannah wakes up and enters the bathroom to brush her teeth. But as she gazes into the mirror, she comes to a horrifying realization: her smile has vanished! She makes funny faces, searches around her room, and thinks about her favorite things. But none of it seems to work. Even eating her favorite candy bar, watching her favorite cartoon, and playing with a brand new doll fails to bring her smile back. As Hannah sits alone on a park bench, she wonders if she’s doomed to be sad forever….

Starring Stella Ritter as Hannah

In Collaboration With Inclusion Films

Ray Martino: Story Writer, Screenwriter, Producer

Danny Sarokin: Story Writer, Screenwriter, Producers

Dani Bowman: Director, Animator, Editor

Justin Canha: Storyboard Artist

Patrick Eidemiller: Animation Supervisor, Recording Engineer

Nicholas Guzman: Musical Score Composer


The third festival short, Hannah Lost Her Smile, premiered at San Diego Comic-Con in 2013. It was a collaboration with our longtime partner Inclusion Films. At the Outside the Box Bakersfield Film Festival, DaniMation had the honor of winning “Best Animated Short.” The final cut or “Extended Edition” of Hannah Lost Her Smile premiered at the World Arts Film Festival in Jacksonville Florida. There, it won the award for “Best Youth Animation.” Later the same year, it was a finalist for the International Family Film Festival. The short also featured at the Vail Film Festival in 2015 and Woodbury Animation Department’s “Night of Too Many Shorts” in 2016. During the short’s string of festival appearances, Dani spoke at events and panels alongside Joey Travolta of Inclusion Films, Joe Mantegna (Criminal Minds), and autistic supermodel Rachel Barcellona. Many of the people Dani worked with for Hannah Lost Her Smile would go on to appear in later projects. Feel free to watch Hannah Lost Her Smile here.

Stella Ritter—Hannah

Benjamin Roberts—The Narrator/Oliver

Jonathan C. Cornejo—Steve the Toy Guy

Dani Bowman—TV Show Announcer