The utter legend, Kate Bush, has returned with Little Shrew (Snowflake), a short anti-war film that draws attention to the impact of conflict on children. Inspired by the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Bush’s new project features an edited version of her song Snowflake from 50 Words for Snow and tells the story of a tiny shrew navigating a devastated world. In a blog post, Bush shared, “I wanted to make an anti-war animation… I hoped to draw attention to the children caught up in war.”
This deeply personal project reimagines Snowflake, a song sung by her son when he was a child, and brings it into a new context. While the original track is over seven minutes long, Bush chose to edit it down to fit the animation, sharing, “I was concerned that the song might lose something by being edited so intensely, but actually, it’s held up pretty well.”
At first, Bush considered a human child as her main character but ultimately chose to depict a small animal. ACaucasian pygmy shrew, specifically. Explaining, “I settled on the idea of a Caucasian pygmy shrew (Ukrainian shrew): a tiny, fragile little creature. I felt that people might have more empathy for a vulnerable little animal than a human…” In the film, Little Shrew journeys through a war-torn city guided by Hope, a spiritual presence represented by a will-o’-the-wisp type of character in glowing yellow, “the only element in the whole piece that has colour.” Bush chose yellow as a fitting colour to represent hope, noting it’s “often used by families… to signify hope for their loved ones at war.”
The animation’s visual style is inspired by A Monster Calls, illustrated by Jim Kay, whom Bush contacted directly. She wanted a “black and white… stark” look, and Kay’s illustrations suited that vision perfectly. “It was like a dream come true that we would be able to work together,” she reflected. They worked closely on the storyboard, and when the project resumed in 2024, Bush teamed up with Inkubus, a London-based studio, to bring Little Shrew to life with an intimate and detailed animation process.
An especially poignant part of the film includes a photograph taken by Ukrainian photojournalist Maksim Levin, who was later killed while documenting the conflict. Bush was moved by his work and included his photograph in a brief sequence “to open a door into reality for just that brief moment, before returning to the world of animation.”
Bush has a straightforward request for viewers of Little Shrew: to consider donating to charities that support children impacted by war. “War can be an unimaginable horror for a child… even a tiny donation will help enormously,” she said. As for new music, Bush recently shared with BBC Radio 4, “I’m really looking forward to getting back into that creative space,” though live shows are not on her current agenda.
Watch Little Shrew (Snowflake) below, and if you’re moved, consider supporting War Child’s essential work.
