‘A Prayer from the Blackbox’ is a hand-drawn, 2D-animated short that follows the story of an awkward robot named Blackbox as he attempts to carry on the work of his late builder, the town’s local monk. Struggling with a sense of imposter syndrome as he tries to keep the temple he was built to support afloat, a visitor late in the night helps to reaffirm the merits of what the late monk had passed onto him, and the value in the rituals that connect us.

The film was envisioned as an MFA Thesis Film and proposed to committee at SFSU’s School of Cinema in 2023. In July of that same year, early production began by sourcing artists, animators and voice actors across borders to make the film into a reality. In May of 2025, a crowdfunding campaign was launched to finish a version of the film, successfully raising over $16,000 from more than 70 Backers on Kickstarter. The film is still currently in late-stage production as it finishes animation and compositing on its last couple scenes.

‘APFTB’ is the joint effort of Studio ‘BUILT BY CROWS,’ an international venture started by Drew Roderick to produce compelling, hand-drawn 2D-animated works. Animators from the Dominican Republic, Canada, Sweden, Mexico, the U.S. and beyond have contributed to the fabric of this film in substantial ways and have breathed life into it in ways its director could not hope to accomplish on his own. Featuring the voices of Griffin Puatu, Stacey Lightman and John Swasey, ‘A Prayer from the Blackbox’ hopes to begin submitting to festivals in mid-2027.