Shervin Hess
CAF gave a grant to Shervin Hess so that he could produce a stop-motion animated short film immersing viewers in the sensory world of the endangered Sunda pangolin, following a female pangolin’s nocturnal journey through Borneo’s forests. By year’s end the film was approximately 70% complete. Hess traveled to Malaysia in April 2025 to record soundscapes along the Kinabatangan River and near Gomantong Caves, and developed an integrated animation workflow combining stop-motion, hand-drawn animation, and Adobe After Effects. He finalized storyboards for the final six sequences and completed movable characters for a Sunda clouded leopard and a skunk. Completion is expected in winter 2026.
CAF’s backing impressed a local audio technician enough to offer pro-bono mixing services — support that would otherwise have cost thousands of dollars.
Using his unique animation technique, Shervin displays invisible scent molecules appearing as colorful streams. The film highlights biodiversity, human impact, and ethical responsibility, building on innovations from Shervin’s first film, Gajah Borneo.
Media often highlights wildlife’s spectacle—the chase, the pounce—but daily survival is shaped by small choices, often impacted by humans. To truly connect with animals, Shervin believes, we must empathize with their realities and recognize their right to exist. Similarly, nighttime forests are often portrayed as ominous, yet in reality, they are places of incredible beauty and ecological importance.
Shervin Hess is a wildlife conservation professional and artist who uses animation to bridge the gap between scientific understanding and emotional connection to endangered species.
