Gabriel Osorio

Gabriel Osorio Vargas is a Chilean animator and director who made history when his short film Bear Story (Historia de un Oso, 2014) became the first Chilean production to win an Academy Award, taking home the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film at the 88th Academy Awards in 2016.

The film tells the story of an old bear who builds a mechanical diorama depicting his memories of family separation — an allegory inspired by Osorio’s own grandfather, Leopoldo Osorio, who was imprisoned following the 1973 Chilean military coup and forced into exile. The deeply personal narrative, rendered in warm CG animation, resonated with audiences worldwide and screened at the Manhattan Short Film Festival in 2015.

Osorio runs Punkrobot, an animation studio based in Santiago that has become a hub for Chilean animated storytelling. His work demonstrates how animation can serve as a vehicle for political memory and familial tenderness simultaneously. Following the success of Bear Story, Osorio has continued developing projects that blend Chilean history with the universal language of animated fable.

Finalist Filmography

• Bear Story (Historia de un Oso) — Manhattan Short 2015 Finalist