We’re used to the big British chain stores competing to make the most emotive Christmas commercials each year, but Kyra and Constantin at Passion Pictures may have outdone them all with their latest spot for the Swiss supermarket Migros. Entitled Papa, it features a little elf called Finn and his family – and it really tears at the heartstrings.

Finn is already known to Swiss audiences and has become a Christmas tradition for directors Kyra Buschor and Constantin Paeplow. This time out, Yuletide togetherness is the backdrop for themes of family, the passage of time, loss and joyful new beginnings. Set to the Cat Stevens song Father and Son, we see Finn as an infant with his father, growing up through his teenage years, seeing his father age and becoming a dad himself. All of this is conveyed through tactile, felt-textured little characters meticulously animated and CG rendered with Maya and Blender.

"This is our fifth film featuring Finn, and they have always been a labour of love," says Kyra Buschor. "It’s been incredibly rewarding to see the character and his world grow so meaningfully for viewers. With this chapter, we wanted to tell one of our most moving and uplifting stories yet, placing Finn at the centre of a journey that feels universally human."

Finn and his family are tiny elf-like beings who live in boxes at the back of shelves in Migros stores. They wear little Christmas bells as caps and are happy sneaking beneath the barcode scanners and using bits of product packaging to create their cosy living areas. A foil-wrapped chocolate becomes a mirror, a plaything and a meal, for example.

What gives Papa its charm – beyond its universal message – is just how much feeling Kyra and Constantin convey through characters that don’t speak and have more or less fixed facial features. "Subtle gestures, posture and timing carry the emotion," explains Constantin Paeplow. "A tilt of the head, a pause or a small hand movement can convey curiosity, warmth or affection. The felt-like textures and handcrafted look in CG amplify this subtlety, making every movement feel tactile and believable."

This is the first Finn animation to feature live-action footage of the setting, using a Migros store in an older building for added authenticity. While this certainly contributes to the cosy mood of the piece, shooting well in advance of the holiday season brought particular challenges.

"It was actually shot in the middle of summer and in pouring rain, so the outside shot was a bit of a challenge," says Kyra. "We had to set it up on the set with fake snow and big panels over the street to keep off the rain and add the falling snow in CG."

Watch the behind-the-scenes reel.

In the finished piece, we see snow softly falling, covering the streets as warm light spills from the shop windows, decorations twinkle, and streetlights gently glow. Inside the shop, a handcrafted feel continues to convey warmth, creating a connection between the big world outside and Finn’s tiny world within.

"We love working on films that feel like stories in a series, telling a little more every time and taking the time to explore the characters and their world. All of Finn’s adventures have been family and emotionally driven, and the beauty of that simplicity is that there will always be more to tell. It’s really satisfying to hone our process for creating the world year on year, adding more detail and developing the look to be richer and more engaging every time," concludes Constantin.

Papa was produced by Passion Animation, Stories AG for Migros with Agency Wirz Werbung AG.