There are a few short unforgetable (such as Migrations which I presented in a previous entry) . "Un temps pour elle", by Erwin Charrier is one of them. Erwin graduated from Supinfocom two years before me , so I had the chance to meet him and see how he created this wonderfull short At that time I considered this movie photorealistic and I think it's still a really nice piece lighting wise. Remember that Pixar at that time had released Toy story recently and it wasn't as credible on a rendering level.
I recall the meticulous work Erwin did on the ligthing, simulating global illumination and bounce lighting with omni and spots using shadow maps. This was really striking to see simple tools pushed so far in order to achieve such a great look
I need to mention that Erwin did this movie within one year (from the first synopsis to the final product) and he was alone

For the little story, I kissed my wife for the first time on a full solar eclipse day ( back in 1999), so seeing the short today brings back that memory as well

Director : Erwin Charrier
Production : Supinfocom