9 is a 2005 computer animated science fiction short film created by Shane Acker as a student project at the UCLA Animation Workshop. Tim Burton saw the film and later produced a feature-length adaptation also titled 9 (2009), directed by Acker and distributed by Focus Features. The film was presented at the Indianapolis International Film Festival. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, but lost to The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, although it did win a Student Academy Award for Best Animation. It was released on April 21, 2005. Plot 9 is a sentient rag doll who appears to be the last of his kind, living in the ruins of a decaying, post-apocalyptic Earth. Hunting 9 relentlessly is the Cat Beast, a mechanical monster wearing a cat's skull for a head. It appears to be guided by a small glowing talisman which it holds in its claws. Sitting quietly, 9 stares into the mirrored surface of his own strange talisman and has a flashback. In the flashback, 9 searches the ruins with his mentor, 5, a one-eyed rag doll. The Cat Beast attacks the pair and consequently kills 5 by sucking his soul out from his mouth and 9 escapes. 9 is woken from the memory by the warning green glow of the mirrored talisman. The Cat Beast chases 9 into a building and reveals that it has not only taken the other rag dolls' souls, but also wears their numbered skins like a garment. Eventually, it falls into 9's trap and falls to its death. 9 salvages the skins of the other rag dolls and prepares them to be ceremonially burned. As he looks sadly at the skin of 5, the two talismans begin to glow. 9 realizes that they are two halves of a whole and puts them together. A beam of green light erupts from the united talisman, and the spirits of the eight slain rag dolls 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 emerge, returning to their rag doll skins to be at peace. Before disappearing, 5's soul turns to 9 and nods in approval. In the morning, 9 walks off into the wasteland, leaving the empty talisman behind in the sand. Themes and motifs Humanity and machines: Director Shane Acker has openly rejected the analysis of 9 being a "human vs. machine" narrative, saying instead: