10 animated films make Oscar short list
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Ten animated films have made the cut for the short list of candidates for this year's Oscar for Best Animated Short.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 10 films that will advance in the voting process for the 84th Academy Awards, out of 44 that had originally qualified in the category. You can view trailers for the films by clicking on the embedded video players below.
The 10 short-listed films are, in alphabetical order:
"Dimanche" (Sunday)"
Director: Patrick Doyon
National Film Board of Canada
An animated fable of how a child spends his Sunday afternoon while the adults in his family are worried about a factory closing.
10 animated films make Oscar short list
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"
Directors: William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
Moonbot Studios
Using a mixture of miniatures, computer animation and 2D animation, this tale centered on the love of books owes much to Buster Keaton, MGM musicals and "The Wizard of Oz."
10 animated films make Oscar short list
"I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat"
Director: Matthew O'Callaghan
Executive producer: Sam Register
Warner Bros. Animation Inc.
Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird are back, with no love lost, in this new 3-D CGI Looney Tunes cartoon.
10 animated films make Oscar short list
"La Luna"
Director: Enrico Casarosa
Pixar Animation Studios
The story of a young boy, his father and grandfather who row out to sea and embark on a great adventure (inspired by "The Distance of the Moon" by Italo Calvino) is told with computer animation heavily influenced by pastel and watercolor textures and colorings.
10 animated films make Oscar short list
"Luminaris"
Director: Juan Pablo Zaramella
JPZtudio
Argentine animator Juan Pablo Zararamella uses pixelation to tell the love story involving two light bulb factory workers.
10 animated films make Oscar short list
"Magic Piano"
Director: Martin Clapp
Producer: Hugh Welchman
BreakThru Films
Part of a planned feature-length film called "The Flying Machine," "Magic Piano" is about a little girl and her cousin who discover a broken piano that magically transforms into a flying machine that carries them aloft on an adventure across Europe. Playing Chopin's music is renowned pianist Lang Lang.
A trailer for "Flying Machine," which promises a mixture of live action and animation, can be viewed above.
There is also a showreel exploring the special effects techniques used for the 3-D filming.
Stereographic compositing showreel 2011. from Mikolaj Zientalski on Vimeo.
10 animated films make Oscar short list
"A Morning Stroll"
Director: Grant Orchard
Producer: Sue Goffe
Studio AKA
Loosely inspired by a single paragraph in Paul Auster's "True Tales of American Life," about a New Yorker's encounter with a chicken.
10 animated films make Oscar short list
"Paths of Hate"
Director: Damian Nenow
Platige Image
This Polish short depicts an air battle between two pilots - their reckless maneuvers driven by a blind fury - in a parable about the human nature of hate.
10 animated films make Oscar short list
"Specky Four-Eyes (Cul de Bouteille)"
Director: Jean-Claude Rozec
Producer: Mathieu Courtois
Vivement Lundi!
A little boy prescribed corrective glasses opts for an un-bespectacled view of the world, which is much more fantastic.
10 animated films make Oscar short list
"Wild Life (Une vie sauvage)"
Directors: Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
National Film Board of Canada
A refined young Englishman arrives in Alberta in 1909 - unprepared for life on the Canadian frontier. The painted animation (gouache on paper) was digitally composited.
Academy members on the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee will select three to five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist, with screenings to be in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in January 2012.
Nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT. The 84th Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center.