Rejected is an animated surrealist short comedy film directed by Don Hertzfeldt that was released in 2000.

[2] The film takes place over four segments and is initially introduced as a collection of unaired promo interstitials for the fictional "Family Learning Channel."

The fourth and final segment is introduced with a title card explaining that the "rejected" cartoons began falling apart.

Hertzfeldt's first film after graduating from college, Rejected was photographed on a 35mm rostrum camera he purchased in 1999.

As the film concludes, the paper the animation is drawn on begins to crumple and tear, and the characters are seen struggling to evade the destruction.

In appearances, he would often tell the humorous story of how he was tempted to produce the worst possible cartoons he could come up with for the companies, run off with their money, and see if they would actually make it to air.

Rumors about the reasons behind this highly unusual action have included: the film's brief use of the phrase "Sweet Jesus" ("Jesus" being a word allegedly not allowed on a Turner Network back then), and an anonymous high-ranking network executive simply not finding the short to be funny.

Special features on this DVD relating to Rejected included a new text commentary by Hertzfeldt (via closed-caption boxes), footage from the abandoned cartoon "The Spanky the Bear Show" that later evolved into a central scene in the film, original pencil tests, the 2001 audio commentary, and dozens of pages devoted to Hertzfeldt's original sketches, storyboards, notes, and deleted ideas from the film.

The scene appears to fit in with the "Johnson & Mills" portion of the original film and is revealed to be an advertisement for cotton swabs at the end.