The 90th Academy Awards: Animated Shorts Qualifiers

We all have different opinions on which shorts should make it to the final Oscar voting round. But, our annual dossier of films with qualifying award wins and theatrical releases is a great rainy day watch list for animation lovers of all stripes. Here’s what has made the first hurdle (so far): Norway Director: Rune Spaans; written & designed by Dave Cooper Produced By: Eric Vogel and Anne Bergseng; Tordenfilm; support by Chaos Software, Norsk Filminstitutt Qualifying Win: Guanajuato Int’l Film Festival (Best Animated Short) Synopsis: A dystopian romance on par with the fall of man, the short features lush, sensual yet warped CG with touchable texturing as it follows Eddy Table’s doomed wandering in a dark forest. There, he meets an enchanting girl…and some dangerous parasites. www.superrune.com Russia Director: Anna Budanova Qualifying Win: Anima (Grand Prix) Synopsis: According to an old legend from the north, the souls of the drowned transform into seals. A hunter steals the skin of one of these mythical creatures, which prevents it from taking to the water. Instead, it becomes the hunter’s wife. They live a good life together and have a daughter. But her longing for the sea cannot be satiated. annabudanova.tumblr.com Germany Directors: Schlecht Produced By: Die Kulturingenieure Qualifying Win: Sundance Film Festival (Short Film Jury Award: Animation) Synopsis: Two former inmates recall their time in Hoheneck, the main women’s prison in former East Germany, for this animated documentary. Extracts of original interview recordings detailing political suppression, forced labor and prison profiteering are interpreted in simple yet surreal images. kaputt-broken.tumblr.com Sweden Director: Niki Lindroth von Bahr Qualifying Win: Annecy Int’l Animation Film Festival (Short Cristal) Synopsis: With painstakingly crafted stop-motion and puppetry, a modern megamarket comes alive in a dark nod to Hollywood musicals as the downtrodden animal employees turn their boredom and anxiety into toe-tapping song-and-dance numbers. www.nikilindroth.com Germany Director: Brenda Lien Qualifying Win: Aspen Shortsfest (Best Short Short) Synopsis: With digital rotoscopy with a black outlined, paint-by-numbers feel, Lien draws attention to modern consumption and alienation: “While we watch the ‘cat fail’ of the day in cheerful safety, all that remains invisible in this neoliberal nightmare catches up with us.” www.brendalien.de Canada Director: Steven Woloshen Qualifying Win: Vienna Independent Shorts (ASIFA Austria Award/ Best Animation Avantgarde) Synopsis: Striking colors and rhythmic energy imbue a pulsing, manic vitality to this animated-on-film, dialogue-free short in which Woloshen seeks to capture the fleeting details of action around a casino as an ode to his late father, “who gambled with love.” scratchatopia.tumblr.com Mexico Director: Sofía Carrillo Produced By: Nahuyaca Films, Inst. Mexicano de Cinematografía; Paola Chaurand Qualifying Win: Guadalajara Int’l Film Festival (Best Mexican Animated Short) Synopsis: A haunting, gritty-pretty stop- motion story which dredges up the ghosts of the past as Cerulia takes a trip to say a final goodbye to her childhood home, but is unable to extricate herself from the grip of her memories…and her grandparents’ presence. www.nahuyacafilms.com U.S.A. Director: Nicholas Arioli Produced By: Jennifer Dahlman, Jessica Sittig, Serkan Piantino, Andrew Bosworth Qualifying Win: Rhode Island Int’l Film Festival (Grand Prize, Animated Short) Synopsis: A CG tale spanning 70 years of one naive explorer’s life, as we he works to earn enough money to take a coin-op rocket ship ride to outer space. (Read more on page 34.) Italy Director: Nico Bonomolo Qualifying Win: Santa Barbara Int’l Film Festival (Bruce Corwin Award/Animated Short) Synopsis: Set in fascist Sicily, a shadow puppet performer is confined to a lonely island with a lighthouse for making fun of Mussolini—until he’s redeemed and rescued by a fortuitous event. Bonomolo renders this timely tale in black and white 2D with hints of storybook illustration and rotoscopy. www.nicobonomolo.com U.S.A. Director: Devon Manney Produced By: University of Southern California Qualifying Win: Student Academy Award (Silver: Animation, Domestic) Synopsis: Returning to the U.S.A. after losing both arms overseas, a young veteran battles phantom pains, prosthetics, and memories of his pre-war life while reaching for a sense of normalcy. A hint of children’s book illustration and a digital chalk pastels counterbalance the weight of the story. devonmanney.com Austria Director: Robert Cambrinus Qualifying Win: Animator Festival (Grand Prix/Golden Pegasus) Synopsis: An energetically ridiculous, hu-

morous and cuttingly appropriate celebration of the 100th anniversary of the DADA “anti-art” movement and its legacy. The present leaves traces in the past! www.sixpackfilm.com/en U.S.A. Director: Glen Keane Produced By: Gennie Rim, Glen Keane Prod.; exec. Produced by Kobe Bryant Qualifying Release: June (L.A.) Synopsis: Sport legend Kobe Bryant’s inspiring retirement poem is drawn to life by veteran animator Keane and swelled by stirring music from Oscar-winning composer John Williams. Arguably the short with the most star-power this year, and a fine example of the craft that strikes an emotional chord. www.kobebryant.com Spain/ France Director: Alberto Vázquez Produced By: Uniko and Autour de Minuit, in assoc. with Alt Content, Abano Prod. and Movistar+ Qualifying Win: Goya Award (Best Animated Short Film) Synopsis: An ironic black comedy ren- dered in black and white 2D. The story takes the folk fable/animation trope of anthropomorphized animals and drowns them in all-too-human existential crises. (Read more on page 32.) www.decoradoshortfilm.com U.S.A. Director: Young Gul (Kirsten) Cho Produced By: School of Visual Arts Qualifying Win: Student Academy Award (Bronze: Animation, Domestic) Synopsis: Cho’s short extrapolates man’s dependence on technology into the future: Is it possible that machines will usurp our biological imperative to reproduce? Slick CG creates a factory where robots create and deliver customized babies—a notion in turns ridiculous and scary. www.kirstencho.com France Directors: Florian Babikian, Vincent Bayoux, Victor Caire, Theophile Dufresne, Gabriel Grapperon & Lucas Na Produced By: MOPA - L’École de la 3D Qualifying Win: Nashville Film Festival (Animated Shorts Grand Jury Prize) Synopsis: Brought to life with impeccable CG animation, the short follows a couple of adventurous amphibians exploring a deserted manor house. The courtship of Frog and Toad milks an impressive amount of characterization out of the film’s photorealistic aesthetics. www.gardenparty-movie.com Canada/ France Director: Franck Dion Produced by: Richard Van Den Boom, Julie Roy; PAPY3D Prod., NFB Qualifying Wins: LA Shorts Int’l Film Festival (Best Animation); Palm Springs Int’l ShortFest (Best Animation) Synopsis: Jacqueline isn’t quite in her right mind anymore, but she’s determined to take the train to the seaside, as she does every summer. Only this year, she’s constantly being followed by some woman who claims to be her daughter, and the trip takes some unexpected, phantasmagorical turns. theheadvanishes.com U.S.A. Director: José Luis González Produced By: Dano Johnson Qualifying Win: Cinequest Film Festival (Best Animated Short) Synopsis: Mexican-born cartoonist González crafts a comix graphic vibe for this story about an intelligent, restless teen stuck in a small West Texas town. The larger narrative about Ester and her family serves as a lens onto how the girl’s vivid imagination can overrun the most mundane activities. www.ojoflojo.com U.S.A. Director: Renee Zhan Qualifying Win: SlamDance Film Festival (Animated Shorts Grand Jury Prize) Synopsis: Harvard animation grad Zhan’s thesis film disarms with black and white, Fleischer-esque physical comedy before cutting to the emotional core as we watch a large bird and a small boy trapped in unhappy cohabitation/codependency. Watercolor/digital 2D makes limited, striking use of color in the characters’ bleak world. www.reneezhan.com U.S.A. Director: Matt Reynolds Produced By: California Inst. of the Arts Qualifying Wins: Florida Film Festival (Grand Jury Award/Animated Short); San Francisco Int’l Film Festival (Best Animated Short) Synopsis: A surreal gem in the vein of twisted ‘90s arthouse animation with a deceptively simple (and bizarre) focus: A young lady whose hands just won’t stop growing new fingers. www.mattreynoldstreats.com Poland Director: Marta Pajek Produced By: Piotr Szczepanowicz, Grzegorz Waclawek; Animoon, Polish Film Institute Qualifying Win: Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film (Grand Prix - International) Synopsis: Striking lineart and minimal smudges of color complement the cinematic form of the narrative, which continues Pajek’s triptych on womankind’s search for perfection and fulfillment. II centers on a woman who stumbles in her daily rush, and rises to find her house is unexpectedly built U.S.A. Directors: Esteban Bravo & Beth David Produced By: Ringling College of Art and Design Qualifying Win: Student Academy Award (Gold: Animation, Domestic) Synopsis: A shy redheaded boy goes on a wild chase when he loses control of his heart and it leaps out of his chest to follow his dreamy crush. A viral smash-hit upon its YouTube release, the short uses bubblegum-bright CG for its all-ages, relatable story about first love with a positive LGBTQ message. inaheartbeat-film.tumblr.com Switzerland Director: Fabio Friedli Produced By: YK Animation Studio, SRF Swiss Radio & Television; Ramon Schoch, Lukas Pulver Qualifying Win: Animated Film) Synopsis: Striking object- and food-fueled stop-motion tries to capture “the world in a nutshell”—from a seed to war, from meat to love, from indifference to apocalypse. yk-animation.ch Ireland Director: Rory Byrne Produced By: Ciarán Deeney; Irish Film Board, RTÉ, Broadcast Authority of Ireland, support by IFB’s Frameworks Qualifying Win: Galway Film Fleadh (James Horgan Award/ Best Animation) Synopsis: From the writer for Alan Holly’s multi-award-winning Coda, the film echoes indie graphic novel art sensibilities as it follows a solitary man who sets out to conquer an isolated island www.andmapsandplans.com | www. rorybyrne.ie

China Director: Chenglin Xie Produced By: China Central Academy of Fine Arts Qualifying Win: Student Academy Award (Gold: Animation, International) Synopsis: It’s the revenge of the smartphone zombies in this darkly comic, refreshingly cartoon-y short. The characters’ utter divorce from reality in their quest to stay connected is highlighted by blank textured backgrounds filled only by the objects and people in their immediate bubble. vimeo.com/user48417496 Australia Director: Daniel Agdag Produced By: Liz Kearney; supported by Screen Australia Qualifying Win: Sydney Film Festival (Yoram Gross Animation Award) Synopsis: Agdag’s meticulously handcrafted cardboard world revolves around a thorough and practical man named Ed who manages the Lost Property Office. When Ed realizes he’s been made redundant, he decides to re-appropriate his cherished lost objects and bid his basement post a whimsical farewell. lostpropertyoffice.com.au U.S.A. Director: Dave Mullins Produced By: Dana Murray; Pixar Animation Studios Qualifying Release: Synopsis: Lou is a collaged creature made up of unclaimed items in a school’s Lost and Found box who collects left-behind objects after recess each day. When a bully starts taking other kids’ toys, Lou gives chase—but soon hits on a kinder solution. www.pixar.com Hungary/ France Director: Réka Bucsi Produced By: Passion Paris, Boddah Qualifying Win: RiverRun Int’l Film Festi- val (Best Animated Short) Synopsis: Winning praise for its artistic style, strong visual storytelling and sharp humor, this pulsing, evolving short describes affection and connection in three different chapters. It all begins with an interstellar impact that kicks things off for one distant planet. rekabucsi.tumblr.com U.K. Director: Anushka Kishani Naanayakkara Produced By: National Film and Television School; Khaled Gad Qualifying Win: BAFTA Award (Short Animation) Synopsis: An engrossing stop-motion collage of mixed materials, this inventive graduate project uses experimental visuals and techniques to show that when two hearts beat as one, there’s a chance those two lives will come unraveled. www.nushypeas.com Sweden Director: Joanna Rytel Produced By: Alberto Herskovits; Dockhus AB, funded by Swedish Film Institute, Film i Väst, Swedish Arts Grants Committee Qualifying Win: Go Short Award (Animation) Synopsis: This festival favorite stretches the cultural standards of “good” motherhood, as it centers on a woman whose sexual needs are beyond both her reach and her boring boyfriend’s—she also happens to be heavily pregnant. The short features puppets and scenery crafted by Tim Maarse. www.altofilm.se U.K. Director: Rory Waudby-Tolley Produced By: Royal College of Art Qualifying Win: FlickerFest (Yoram Gross Award/ Int’l Short Animation) Synopsis: This colorful mind-trip of a graduate film uses recordings of the filmmaker talking to a self-described “spiritual healer” about the inner mind, the fabric of the universe and the nature of reality as a jumping-off point for vignettes in a variety of toon techniques. rorywt.com Canada Director: Sheldon Cohen Produced By: NFB; Jelena Popovic, Marcy Page Qualifying Win: Cleveland Int’l Film Festival (Best Animated Short) Synopsis: Montreal filmmaker Cohen turns his whimsical artistic sense and comedic sensibilities to Canada’s heart disease problem by exploring his own traumatic experience: undergoing invasive, open-heart surgery to save his life. www.nfb.ca France Directors: Ru Kuwahata & Max Porter Produced By: Edwina Liard, Nidia Santiago; co-produced by Jean-Louis Padis Qualifying Win: Anima Mundi (Grand Prix) Synopsis: “My dad taught me how to pack” is the narrative anchor of this richly detailed, meditative blend of stop-motion and CG animation, adapted from Ron Koertge’s original poem. ikkifilms.com Slovenia Director: Špela adež Produced By: Finta Film, Radio-Television of Slovenia, Bonobostudio Qualifying Win: Animafest Zagreb (Grand Prix) Synopsis: Attempting to remove an unresponsive badger from a dark road, a police officer soon realizes that the animal is not dead, but rather dead drunk. Highly textured multiplane animation is comple- mented by parallel stories and different perceptions in this engaging animal drama. www.nighthawk.si Denmark Directors: Michelle & Uri Kranot Produced By: Marie Bro, Dansk Tegnefilm; Emmanuel-Alan Raynal, Miyu Prod. (France) Qualifying Win: Odense Int’l Film Festival (Børge Ring Award/Animation) Synopsis: This wintry VR experience explores spectatorship, bringing the viewer into the midst of a gathered crowd expecting…something. The technique of painting over footage combined with immersive 2D animation help create an uneasy, dreamlike sense as the observer realizes they have become the observed. nothinghappens.tindruk.dk U.S.A. Directors: Kevin Deters & Stevie Wermers Produced By: Roy Conli; Walt Disney Animation Studios Qualifying Release: Synopsis: As the winter holidays draw near in the kingdom of Arendelle, Olaf the snowman and Sven the reindeer embark on an epic adventure to find the perfect holiday tradition to help royal sisters Elsa and Anna celebrate. (Read more on page 28.) www.disneyanimation.com U.S.A. Director: Xia Li Produced By: USC Cinematic Arts Qualifying Win: Atlanta Film Festival (Animated Short Jury Award) Synopsis: Comic-book influenced 2D laced with CG elements lends a nostalgic feel to a dramatic story about a schoolboy who dreams of being a superhero, and must make a crucial choice when a classmate is cruelly bullied. www.lixia88725.com

U.S.A. Director: Genndy Tartakovsky Produced By: Sony Pictures Animation Qualifying Release: July 28, with The Synopsis: A sneak peek at the third installment in Tartakovsky’s hit Hotel Transylvania film franchise, the short is full of canine chaos when Dracula brings home a monstersized pet for his grandson, Dennis. www.sonypicturesanimation.com Poland Director: Renata Gasiorowska Produced By: Marcin Malatynski; Lodz Film School Qualifying Win: (Grand Jury Prize/Animated Short) Synopsis: Minimalist digital 2D sets up this not-for-kids short about a young woman whose plans for an erotic evening at home alone don’t work out the way she envisions. Touched with surrealism and humor, this warmly received student effort makes Gasiorowska an artist to watch. frfcl.blogspot.com Japan Director: Qualifying Win: Ann Arbor Film Festival (Chris Frayne Award/ Best Animated Film) Synopsis: Carrying the viewer in an acceleration toward distortion, this dialogue-free film experiments with the effect of a static train passenger against the continual movement of the scenery that surrounds him. www.shunsakuweb.com Canada Directors: Carol Beecher & Kevin D.A. Kurytnik Produced By: National Film Board of Canada Qualifying Win: Calgary Int’l Film Festival (Best Overall Short) Synopsis: Lauded as a “visually stunning dark allegory of greed and spiritual reckoning,” the brutality of the 19th century fur trade and its impact on the ecology and power dynamics of Canada laces nods to Melville and Coleridge throughout its impactful artistic melange. www.nfb.ca Germany Director: Kariem Saleh Produced By: Alexandra Stautmeister; Filmakademie Baden-Württemburg Qualifying Win: SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival (Best in Show) Synopsis: This ambitious student project, which took three years to complete, is a parable about not silencing one’s inner child, centered on a man with a toad on his head seeking psychiatric help. The team created a first-of-its-kind system for capturing glove puppetry performance for the short. www.kariemsaleh.de Poland Director: Produced By: Tomasz Wolf; Warsztat Filmowy Qualifying Win: Krakow Film Festival (Silver Dragon/Animated Film) Synopsis: A hand-painted stream of consciousness short takes viewers on a surreal journey through the protagonist’s life, travelling from one milepost to the next. From personal loves and traumas to historical events and daily monotony, the short is an attempt to glimpse the answer to “why are we here?” through a kaleidoscope of memory. zbigniewczapla.pl Germany Director: Nikita Diakur Qualifying Wins: Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival (Animated Encounters Grand Prix); Ottawa Int’l Animation Festival (Nelvana Grand Prize for Ind’t Short) Synopsis: A “broken film” that embraces flawed computer simulated puppet animation to tell the story of Redbear, a Native American Chief, and a shunned tomcat named Ugly who team up to restore spiritual balance to the a world. (Read more on page 30.) www.ugly-film.com U.K. Director: Nicolas Ménard Produced By: Nexus Studios; commissioned by Channel 4 for Random Acts Qualifying Win: South By Southwest (Animated Shorts Jury Award) Synopsis: Part of a Late Night Work Club anthology, fine art pencil drawings (by Manshen Lo) and MS Paint-ish digital 2D contrast in the surreal story of Eugene, an introspective man whose quest for spiritual enlightenment leads to romance and despair. www.nicolasmenard.com Switzerland Director: Remo Scherrer Produced By: Zeitraum Film, Hochschule Luzern, Swiss Radio & Television, SRG SSR; Carola Kutzner Qualifying Win: Athens Int’l Film and Video Festival (Animation) Synopsis: Starkly beautiful black and white drawings, emphasizing negative space, illustrate Wally’s memories of a childhood increasingly turned upside down by her mother’s alcoholism, as the confused eight-year old struggles to keep both her own life and that of her family in order. www.beiwindundwetter.ch Norway Director: Trine Vallevik Håbjørg Produced By: Råsalt As Qualifying Win: New York Int’l Children’s Film Festival (Best Animated Short) Synopsis: Conversations with five children from Ivory Coast about their memories, experiences, dreams for the future, and what it’s like to live in their refugee camp in Liberia are disburdened with bright colors and playful lines in this multi-award winner. www.raasalt.no France/Turkey Director: Ayce Kartal Produced By: Les Valseurs, Damien Megherbi Qualifying Win: Annecy Int’l Animation Film Festival (Jury Award) Synopsis: The hand-drawn tale ceneters on “S.”—an 8-year-old Turkish girl who uses her strong imagination to reflect on happy memories from her grandparents’ village as she rests in hospital…but some dark and terrifying recollections also emerge. lesvalseurs.com U.S.A. Director: Qualifying Win: Ann Arbor Film Festival (Ken Burns Award/ Best of the Festival) Synopsis: The dizzying vibrancy of Levonian’s hand-painted cut-out animation immerses viewers in the charming chaos that unfolds when a woman impulsively steals a goat from a petting zoo, turning her morning routine into a madcap romp through the neighborhood. www.jenniferlevonian.com France Director: Céline Devaux Produced By: Ron Dyens; Sacrebleu Productions Qualifying Win: Venice Int’l Film Festival (Orizzonti Award/ Best Short Film) Synopsis: Devaux, who qualified last year with Sunday Lunch, ventures into live-action hybrid filmmaking with this slice-of-life recollection of Jean, who drinks too much on his birthday and is reminded of the disastrous weekend that led to his breakup with Mathilde. vimeo.com/celinedevaux