A new animated short from The Smiley Company aims to show why optimism is the way we manifest a better future in 2021 – and beyond.

Charting Smiley’s near-50-year trajectory as a popular culture icon, the animated story shows why the brand has become known for positivity. Beginning with Smiley’s birth as a symbol for good news in a 1972 edition of France Soir, the three-minute short aims to remind watchers that there’s always a choice to refuse to accept the world’s worst-case scenarios.

Released in the lead-up to The Smiley Company’s 50th anniversary in 2022, the film is narrated by DJ Pierre (Phuture), who earned his place in the Smiley hall-of-fame as the father of the Acid House sound.

Written and co-directed by good news journalist and filmmaker Liam Aldous and scored and co-directed by Tbilisi-based multidisciplinary artist Maxime Machaidze, the pair enlisted illustrators and animators from Georgia; the ex-Soviet bloc country whose young creative class embody the same spirit of optimism that defines Smiley’s history.

Fans can watch the film on Instagram.