The Face Thief

Also known as El Ladrón de Caras, The Face Thief is a 12-minute short, animated (mostly) using 3D software. It was animated by students from the Primer Frame 3D Animation School in Valencia, Spain, but is equally accessible in all languages, being entirely free of dialogue.

The story takes place in a Film Noir setting. It begins with a frightened woman fleeing some unseen danger. After narrowly escaping, she arrives at the office of Private Investigator Paul F. Gimbal, and provides him with a case file full of photos of people, with flickering blurs where their faces ought to be. The woman reveals that the attacker from earlier made off with the upper-right part of her face, leaving only a flickering black void (hidden by her bangs). There is a face thief on the loose.

As the detective pieces together the clues, and attempts to confront the face thief, he starts to discover that this case is far more than it seems...

If you have some free time, watch the full short on YouTube.


 * All CGI Cartoon: Well, almost all.
 * Art Shift: To the medium of.
 * Body Horror: The Face Thief leaves behind flickering voids where their faces were. Not graphic, but still a bit disturbing.
 * Damsel in Distress: But turns out to be a Badass Damsel when she has to rescue Gimbal.
 * Face Stealer
 * Film Noir
 * Impossible Thief: Apparently, for anyone attacked by the face thief, their faces are retroactively removed from all photographs.
 * No Name Given: The woman.
 * Private Detective
 * Silence Is Golden
 * Silence Is Golden