Oscar shortlisted Animation Shorts 2025 (& 'Flow' enters the International Feature Film List)
As usual, the 2025 Academy Awards animation shortlist announcement brought mixed feelings. A number of highly acclaimed animation shorts are in the contest, including the Annecy Cristal winner 'Percebes' by Alexandra Ramires and Laura Gonçalves, and of course, an equal number of acclaimed films were left out.
Oscar-awarded Torrill Kove enters the list, with her 'Maybe Elephants' 2D animation short on family autobiography (Canada/Norway); US director Don Hertzfeldt is back with his 21-minute short 'Me': "a story about narcissism; a story about pain".
The quirky 'A Crab in the Pool' by Alexandra Myotte and Jean-Sébastien Hamel is another Canadian entry, whereas Nicolas Keppens with his Istanbul story of 'Beautiful Men' continues his streak of success after his Cinanima Festival win.
Nina Gantz is included in the shortlist with her stop-motion parable 'Wander to Wonder', and UK animation director Iain Gardner gets a spot with his 28-minute war chronicle 'A Bear Named Wojtek'.
Pay attention to the delightful children's film 'Yuck' film by Loïc Espuche. The 3D film (and Student Academy Award winner) Origami' by Kei Kanamori is included as well as 'The 21', an animated film by more than 70+ artists that chronicles the kidnapping and torture of 20 Coptic men and one Ghanian in Libya in 2015.
In the International Feature Category, 'Flow' by Gints Zilbalodis (and Latvia's official submission) entered the 15-film international shortlist -another cause for celebration in the indie animation world. ('Flow' is still considered for the Best Animation Feature Category in addition).
The full list of Oscar-shortlisted animation shorts 2025
“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)
Notable omissions:
The Miracle, Nienke Deutz
Such Miracles Do Happen, Barbara Rubik
Tennis, Oranges, Sean Pecknold
The Meatseller, Margherita Giusti
Zima, Tomek Popakul, Kasumi Ozeki
Nominations for the 97th Academy Awards will be announced on 17 January 2025. The 97th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.
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