Death and the Winemaker (16:57)
imaginastudio; IMDb; official website; Victor Jaquier; YouTube

This 2021 short film was presented by Alter in 2023.

This is set in the Middle Ages, in Switzerland. (The language is French, with English subtitles. The film's French title is "Le Vigneron et la Mort".) A woman is dying, and a plague doctor tells the story of a winemaker to a young girl (presumably the woman's daughter). There was a winemaker named Peter who was in love with a woman named Mathilde. He asked her father for her hand in marriage, and the old man, who didn't want his daughter to marry Peter, told him he could marry her if the wine he'd made was judged the best in the world by the Pope. So Peters sets off for Rome, but along the way has an accident, and meets Death, who wants to taste his wine. Peter manages to trick Death, and traps her in his wine barrel for many years, so no one ever dies. But they do grow old, and... well, I think I've said too much already. I don't want to spoil how the story ends.

It's an interesting, macabre tale, but I feel what really makes it stand out is the beautiful animation. And I guess that's all I can say.