Chinese movie goers who entered theaters to watch "Incredibles 2" on Friday were surprised to catch a short film of the first Pixar short by a Chinese-Canadian woman.

Pixar traditionally accompanies each of its films with a short film but has not been able to do so in China. Previously this kind of film would normally be cut out in the Chinese market. But "Bao," made by Chinese-Canadian director Domee Shi, survived unprecedentedly this time, largely because of its Chinese elements.

"Bao, " a nearly eight-minute short film, tells the story of an aging Chinese mom suffering from empty nest syndrome who gets another chance at motherhood when one of her baozi (steamed bun dumpling) springs to life as a lively, giggly baozi boy. But the baozi starts growing up fast, and the mom must come to the bittersweet realization that nothing stays cute and small forever, as the Pixar's official synopsis reads.

"I just wanted to create this magical, modern-day fairy tale, kind of like a Chinese Gingerbread Man story, " Shi said. 

Shi was born in China's Chongqing city and moved to Toronto, Canada with her family when she was 2 years old. She graduated from the animation program at Sheridan College, and drew inspirations from the works of Studio Ghibli, 90's anime, Disney, Pixar, as well as the works of Ang Lee, Yasujiro Ozu and Bong Joon Ho. 

She became a story intern at Pixar Animation Studios in June 2011, and was soon hired as a story artist on the Academy Award-winning feature film "Inside Out." Since then she has worked on the feature films "The Good Dinosaur," "Incredibles 2" and "Toy Story 4."

In 2015 she began pitching some ideas for short films, and soon was given the green light to write and direct "Bao." A touching family story loosely based on her own experiences growing up as an only child and set in the Chinese community in Canada.  

With this short, Shi became the first female director of an animated short film for the animation studio, as well as the first filmmaker of Chinese descent to present a Chinese element story. Shi's mother also served as a "cultural consultant" for the film, and she was invited many times to the studio to make sure her baozi-making skills can be accurately reflected in the animated baozi-making scenes.

"Incredibles 2," the unusual superhero animated flick, is released today in Chinese theaters with "Bao." After 14 years, the sequel to the critically claimed box office animated hit "The Incredibles" is back in action and is once again written and directed by Brad Bird.  

The film has already smashed animation box office records in North America with the biggest weekend debut of US$180 million when it opened on June 15, while receiving rave reviews. On the film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, it also earned a 94 percent fresh rating from critics.

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