On a warm Saturday, just after noon, João Federici — the Mill Valley Film Festival’s director of World Cinema programming — introduced the film Robot Dreams with a surprising admission. “This, I think, is my favorite film in the World Cinema lineup this year,” he said. “I love the characters and the story, and I think you will love all of that too.” Given that the slate of World Cinema films for 2023 include the buzz-building holocaust drama The Zone of Interest (nominated for the Palme d’Or award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival), Saltburn, the newst film from Emerald Fennell (director of the hit indie film A Promising Young Woman) and Evil Does Not Exist, the latest from Oscar-winning Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), that’s quite a statement.

I might just end up feeling the same way.

Robot Dreams, a 2D animated film from Spanish director Pablo Berger, is among the most beautiful films I’ve seen all year, a delightfully designed, essentially wordless, 102-minute film set in a fantastical animal-occupied version of 1980s New York City. It follows a lonely dog, living alone in an East Village apartment, who one night impulsively purchases a make-your-own robot kit he sees in an infomercial on television. Once the humanoid buddy has been delivered and assembled, Robot and Dog quickly become BFFs, as Dog introduces Robot to the joys of roller skating in Central Park, watching fireworks over the city, seeing The Wizard of Oz, walking together down the action-packed streets of Manhattan, and playing on the beach in the sun.

Then something happens that forces a separation between the two. It’s here that the real heart of the movie starts beating, as the robot – in forced isolation due to circumstances beyond it and Dog’s control – passes the time by dreaming various scenarios in which he and dog might be united. All the while, Dog goes on living, worrying and waiting, aching for the moment Robot will return.

To say much more would destroy the film’s many surprises, twists, turns, shocks, joys and heartbreaking realizations, all taking place with artful charm and invention on the way to a truly gorgeous, lump-in-the-throat ending that elevates this film above any other animated film released so far this year (and many live-action movies as well.)

Purchased after Cannes by Neon Films, Robot Dreams will be released sometime in the coming months, and is already being buzzed-up as a potential nominee for the Academy Awards’ Best Animated FIlm. There is one remaining screening at the MVFF, Sunday, Oct. 14, 8 p.m., at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center.