THE HOMEWORK THIEF
2D Frame-by-frame Animated Short Film | RCA Graduation Work
My very first independent short film from scratch to finish
In a school where students are stressing out as the only thing that value them are their grades, appears a tale about “The Homework Thief” who steals nothing but students’ homework…
The stolen homework will get returned—with detailed annotations as well as encouragement to the students. The Thief and the students start to interact with each other, and together they discuss what is truly important and is missing in their education.
SHORT FILM
ABOUT
RCA graduate film, also the very first film I directed from start to finish. As my first film, I came into a huge topic, and I had so much to tell. The project greatly challenged my personal ability and pushed me to find my intention and the core of the story from all those ideas, and letting me to keep learning and growing through production. I greatly appreciate this experience as well as my families and friends, course mates and tutors who questioned and supported me through out. I am super excited to see where it will lead me towards as a director in the future.
CREDITS
YEAR
LENGTH
2024
9 min 15 sec
DIRECTOR
Yaya Huang
MAIN CASTS
Zero Luo, Aura Soong, Jun Lan, You Liang, Lonely Onion
MUSIC
Murmur_Z
SOUND & MIXING
William Huang
( Still – Thief in the Classroom )
( Still – Afternoon Classroom )
INTENTION
It is a film inspired by education in my home country, China, where there are still a lot of students suffering from unreasonable amount of homework, stress and punishments.
In my film when glasses wrote “What’s the point of studying” in his letter to Mr Thief, what I really wanted to ask is: What is the purpose of education? As I remember a line from the book The Courage To Be Happy:
“The objective of education, in a word, is ‘self-reliance’. “
And I think, at least, is not to define a child by grades and numbers, and to make it the only value one lives for; at least it is not to destroy a child’s curiosity to the world by giving pressure; and is not to trap a child with trauma that the parents haven’t overcome in their lives.
It’s more about how we live as a person, and I want to quote another line I saw elsewhere:
“To let a child become himself, to become a real living person. “
And due to the time limitation, I could only express the 2 adults completely negatively in the film–their personalities formed during the time they grew up, which reflects the characteristics of the generation. —and so do us.
The film took 1 year and 10 months from start to finish, I have experimented a lot and learnt a lot–as well as feeling hopeless as the whole educating system is a huge complex social problem. Having said that, my intention at the very first beginning is just want to speak out for some of my friends. It was as simple as that.
AWARDS
New York Short Animation Festival (2025) | Finalist
Sunderland Short Film Festival (2025) | Official Selection
Japan World Film Festival (2025) | Official Selection
Bilibili Light Catcher Award (2025) | Official Selection
Columbus International Film & Animation Festival (2026) | Official Selection
DEVELOPMENT PLAN
At its start, The Homework Thief was planned to be a series with many plots and episodes. When I adapted the idea to a short film for my graduation project, I removed all the unnecessary parts, and found the core of the story. By completing the short film, I feel more clear of its direction and knowing how to improve when re-writing the longer story.
I wish to develop The Homework Thief into an animated series consisting of 10-12 episodes, by far, the rough plan has been completed, and I hope this does not remain a plan forever. I hope someday I can truly bring alive the whole story, it might take years before I have the right chance, but I will keep working on it while improving myself and the story towards it.
Meanwhile, I wish to listen and to learn more about everyone’s experiences with the topic “Education”, as I want The Homework Thief to be an interesting story while being reflective, I won’t be able to make it all from my own experiences, and I need your help. If you have been enjoying the short film or looking forward to the longer story, feel free to share your stories and experiences with me through the email address below. No matter where you are from, what language you speak, if you are a student, a parent or an educator, or just someone with something to speak, no matter good or bad, I appreciate your time and support, thank you so much for your interested in a project at its early stage.
Note: All your emails will be used as part of reference for building the characters and the stories. They will not be shared or spread in any public situations.
If you are a sponsor or looking for collaboration, please also don’t be hesitate to reach out.
Contact email: nevertolduntilnow@gmail.com
Thank you all for your patience, time and support. Wish you all the best, and I look forward to a chance to bring alive the story to the world.
