'Flow', 'Memoir of a Snail', 'Beautiful Men' in the 2025 Oscar Nominations

Oscar nominated animation films 2025 collage

Here is the Oscar news for animation in the 2025 Academy Awards nomination. We only have 2 US animation features in the feature animation category: Dreamworks' Τhe Wild Robot (dir. Chris Sanders) and 'Inside Out 2' (dir. Kelsey Mann).

The three other contenders come from Europe and Australia. Aardman's sixth Wallace & Gromit feature, 'Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl' (dir. Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham) is  Academy Award-nominated; the UK Aardman animation studio has been so far the only European company to have won in this category with its first Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 20025 (directed by Nick Park & Steve Box).

The next European entry is the Latvian/French/Belgian 3D computer animation 'Flow' by Gints Zilbalodis, the critical darling that recently won the Golden Globe (and several other critics' awards) -and a serious contender for the upcoming award. 'Flow' is also nominated in the Best International Feature category (the official Latvian submission).

It is very reassuring that there is a second stop-motion entry (this time from Australia) in the nominees: Adam Elliot's 'Memoir of a Snail' (read our review) made it to the final nominees -even though the Oscar-awarded director was absent from the same category for his critically acclaimed 'Mary & Max' 2009 feature. This is the most adult-themed entry on the list.

In the short animation field, here are the nominees:

  • “Beautiful Men”, Nicolas Keppens (Belgium)
  • “In the Shadow of the Cypress”, Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi (Iran)
  • “Magic Candies”, Daisuke Nishio (Japan)
  • “Wander to Wonder”, Nina Gantz ( Netherlands, Belgium, France, UK)
  • “Yuck!”, Loïc Espuche (France)

Yuck!

The beautifully executed 'Yuck! and its story of a kiss gone wrong moves beyond the teenage audience intended; while the Japanese 'Magic Candies' continues the tradition of coming-of-age stories (dogs present). 'Wander to Wonder' by Nina Gantz moves into the documentary field, and 'In the Shadow of the Cypress' follows the story of a former captain suffering from PTSD  living by the sea with his daughter. 'Beautiful Men' by Nicolas Keppens (Best animation short at Cinanima festival) is a poignant story of three men looking for their missing masculinity (and hair) in Istanbul.

Point to note: there is no US presence in the best animation short category -so, all possibilities are open.

As always in this field, a lot of interesting films have been left out. Here's the full list of the 15 Oscar-shortlisted films.

The full list of the 15 Oscar-shortlisted films
“Au Revoir Mon Monde”, Astrid Novais, Florian Maurice, Quentin Devred, Maxime Foltzer, Estelle Bonnardel, Baptiste Duchamps (Ecole MoPA)
“A Bear Named Wojtek”, Iain Gardner (UK/ Poland)
“Beautiful Men”, Nicolas Keppens (Belgium)
“Bottle George”, Daisuke Tsutsumi (US)
“A Crab in the Pool”, Alexandra Myotte, Jean-Sébastien Hamel (Canada)
“In the Shadow of the Cypress”, Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi (Iran)
“Magic Candies”, Daisuke Nishio (Japan)
“Maybe Elephants”, Torrill Cove (Canada)
“Me”, Don Hertzeldt (US)
“Origami”, Kei Kanamori (Japan)
“Percebes”, Alexandra Ramires, Laura Gonçalves (Portugal/France)
“The 21”, Various directors
“Wander to Wonder”, Nina Gantz ( Netherlands, Belgium, France, UK)
“The Wild-Tempered Clavier”, Anna Samo (Germany)
“Yuck!”, Loïc Espuche (France)

The 97th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.

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