Paper Planes Have a Crucial Role in Paperman Disney Film

Paperman is an Oscar-nominated, heartwarming story where paper airplanes are instrumental in helping a young office worker find a young woman he met on an elevated train platform in New York City.

Love is *literally* in the air, and traditional origami plays a leading role!

As I watched Paperman, I had this urge to fold paper planes again.

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Specifically, I wanted to fold the paper plane my brothers and I used to play with when we were young. A few months ago my brother Luis showed me how to fold this paper plane, but it just didn’t take hold in memory.

So, I called my other brother, Camilo, at his office, in Bogotá, in the middle of a busy workday and asked him to please drop everything, meet me on Skype, and show me once more how to fold this paper plane of our childhood.

Good brother that he is, Camilo did just that. In a few short minutes of patient instruction, I had relearned the steps to fold that paper plane again.

I made the following 3-min video to share with anyone who might also be interested in this fun and easy paper airplane.

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This paper plane is made with a rectangular piece of paper. US letter size or A4 will be just perfect. A page from a magazine is a good choice also. The paper plane takes less than a minute to make and  flies quite well. Try it!

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15 thoughts on “Paper Planes Have a Crucial Role in Paperman Disney Film”

  1. I loved this paper plane designed by your brother. When I was a child, I made about 100 paper planes. I was a fan of paper planes. When I folded this plane, it took me back to my childhood days. Thank you very much for this idea. I enjoyed folding them.

    Reply
  2. Thank you for introducing me to Paperman! I couldn’t watch it here–it says the video is private–but I found it online, and it’s wonderful!

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  3. Hermoso recuerdo Leyla, …. y un modelo mas apropiado para Paperman, que el de la película (aunque menos conocido). Si lo miras de arriba el alcionito es un corazón deformado por la velocidad de vuelo ¿no te parece? cariños POLO

    Reply
  4. Nice film – paper planes are wonderful. I’m glad that you and your brother can happily “waste” some time together indulging in such nonsense.
    I plan to devote volume 3 of my “It’s Just a Bit of Paper” series to similar nonsense. All sorts of stuff from straight planes to dragons, pelicans, mammoths and other silliness :)

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  5. Dear Leyla:

    Thank you to you and your brother for adding this lovely touch to a wonderful little film.
    I am off to fold and play with paper planes!

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    • My brothers and I had a lot of fun folding the paper place mats into airplanes in a restaurant last year. Then I forgot to make the plane again!
      Fortunately, Camilo was available at the moment I needed him!

      Reply

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