I previously detailed all 45 animated shorts in contention for Oscar’s 2012 Best Animated Short Film category and today the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the ten animated short films that will advance in the voting process for the 84th Academy Awards.
Taking all of the information I compiled for the long list of 45 films I have listed the ten in contention for the Oscar with videos and additional information directly below
The Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting in screenings held in New York and Los Angeles.
Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select three to five nominees from among the ten titles on the shortlist. Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in January 2012.
On a gray afternoon, a young boy creates his own form of entertainment when the family makes its weekly trek to visit to the grandparents.
Inspired in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, “Morris Lessmore” is a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation), award-winning author/illustrator William Joyce and Co-director Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and M-G-M Technicolor musicals.”Morris Lessmore” is old-fashioned and cutting edge at the same time.
You can buy this short on iTunes.
Featuring the voice of the late voice actor Mel Blanc as both Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat, “I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat” has taken Blanc’s voice work from the 1940s children’s record of the same name and separated it out and animated this new 3D short around it. The short will play in theaters in front of Happy Feet Two. Get more on the film here.
La Luna is the timeless fable of a young boy who is coming of age in the most peculiar of circumstances. Tonight is the very first time his Papa and Grandpa are taking him to work. In an old wooden boat they row far out to sea, and with no land in sight, they stop and wait. A big surprise awaits the little boy as he discovers his family’s most unusual line of work. Should he follow the example of his Papa, or his Grandpa? Will he be able to find his own way in the midst of their conflicting opinions and timeworn traditions?
Short film made in pixilation.
When Anna’s father leaves to work abroad it seems to be the worst time of her life. Everything changes as she and her cousin discover the magical flying piano. Anna takes a chance to see her Dad again and the adventure begins…
When a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we’re left to wonder which one is the real city slicker…
Paths of Hate won the SIGGRAPH Jury Award and a number of animation festival awards and just above I have included a clip along with a 30-minute making of featurette.
Some bad news has just arrived: profoundly nearsighted, Arnaud has to wear glasses. And not any ordinary glasses: an unrefined frame which unsticks his ears and pinches his nose, glasses so thick that his eyes seem no more than two little black spots. These hideous lorgnettes, Arnaud does not like them and he prefers by far the vague and protean world of his nearsightedness, a world populated with monsters, unicorns and the other fancies which appear according to his fertile imagination.
You can find hi-res images from the short here.
In 1909, a dapper young remittance man is sent from England to Alberta to attempt ranching. However, his affection for badminton, bird watching and liquor leaves him little time for wrangling cattle. It soon becomes clear that nothing in his refined upbringing has prepared him for the harsh conditions of the New World. This animated short is about the beauty of the prairie, the pang of being homesick and the folly of living dangerously out of context.
The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
