"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" is a 2011 animated short film written by William Joyce and directed by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg. The movie won the 2012 Academy Award for best animated short movie. The movie does not have any voice acting, in part because it is a homage to the silent film era.
Mr. Morris Lessmore is at home reading on his patio when a strong wind storm blows through his city (in a scene that is acknowledged as being a tribute to The Wizard of Oz). He, along with the other residents of his city, find themselves in a new land, and Mr. Lessmore finds his way to a library full of anthropomorphic books. He tends to both the books and the populace, becoming a librarian and shepherd. At the end of the movie, we see that his experience is part of a cycle that will be repeated.
One of the things about short movies, especially short movies with no dialogue, is that they have to communicate their emotions very quickly and succinctly. Just the setting of a mood in a feature film can take longer than most short films last. With this movie, about half-way in, I was under the impression that it was a visually impressive Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland tribute. Then, within about three minutes, the movie changed from being something amusing to something that resonated with me, and I found myself crying. And when the ending credits mentioned the movie was made in Louisiana, the opening storm made a lot more sense. This movie managed to build something powerful very quickly for me, and seemingly out of nothing.
Official page: http://morrislessmore.com/
IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1778342/