Clay Dolls is a stop-motion animated short centered on Taiwan’s traditional bone-collecting ritual. The story follows the protagonist, who was raised by his grandfather—a bone collector—and inherits the family practice after his grandfather’s passing. Today, he performs the ritual himself, personally collecting his grandfather’s remains.

As the ceremony unfolds, he is drawn into memories that retrace the emotional bond they shared. In the final moment, as he lifts the urn containing the ashes, the boundary between reality and memory blurs—the urn transforms into the figure of his grandfather, marking their final farewell.

Through handcrafted stop-motion animation, the film delicately portrays the ritual’s process and emotional depth, exploring the humanity, familial ties, and cultural meaning embedded in death rites. In this intimate and symbolic farewell, the director invites the audience to reconsider this fading tradition—not merely as a funeral custom, but as a profound response to love and remembrance.