Oscars Shortlist: 15 Animated Short Films Shortlisted for 96th Academy Awards

Animated Short Film
Nominees:

“27”

“Boom”

“Eeva”

“Humo (Smoke)”

“I’m Hip”

“A Kind of Testament”

“Koerkorter (Dog Apartment)”

“Letter To A Pig”

“Ninety-Five Senses”

“Once Upon A Studio”

“Our Uniform”

“Pachyderme”

“Pete”

“War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko”

“Wild Summon”

Per the Academy’s press release:

15 films will advance in the Animated Short Film category for the 96th Academy Awards. 93 films qualified in the category. Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

Each shortlist is determined by members of that corresponding branch, except for International Feature Film and Live Action Short Film. (Members from all branches are invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting and must meet a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category.)

The nominations for the 96th Oscars will be announced on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, while the Oscars ceremony will be held on Sunday, March 10, 2024 at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.

OSCAR NOMINATION PREDICTIONS

“27”
Flóra Anna Buda

“Humo (Smoke)”
Rita Basulto

“Once Upon A Studio”
Dan Abraham
Trent Correy

“War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko”
Dave Mullins

“Wild Summon”
Karni Arieli
Saul Freed

WHY I CHOSE THOSE FIVE?

As I know nothing about these animated short films, my picks are based solely on what looks intriguing to me and what I could see making the final cut. The most obvious one is the Walt Disney Pictures submission of “Once Upon A Studio,” which combines all the studio’s properties and animation styles into one short film. The blowback toward Disney this year might make the Academy overlook this one, but I can’t in good conscience not pick it as one of the nominees.

“Humo (Smoke)” is a short film with a unique animation style, and from the description, it appears to be about the Holocaust. There’s another short about the Holocaust in “Letters To A Pig,” but I feel it will be one or the other. The “War Is Over!” short looked the most visually stunning of all the shortlisted nominees and is inspired by the music of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, offering an alternative WWI scenario. Another unique short is “Wild Summon,” which looks at the life cycle of salmon but personifies the fish as human beings. It seems just strange enough to grab some attention.

The last short I picked is “27” because it won the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival. That and the subject matter is very adult, which the Academy often seems driven toward. Some alternates include “Koerkorter (Dog Apartment),” because it looks bizarre yet intriguing, “Ninety-Five Senses,” which is directed by Jared and Jerusha Hess (“Napoleon Dynamite”), and “Pachyderme,” because the animation style is hard to look away from.

27

Flóra Anna Buda

October 1, 2023
Directed by Flóra Anna Buda
Produced by Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre Baussaron, Péter Benjámin Lukács, and Gábor Osváth
11 minutes
Miyu Productions

Synopsis: Alice lives at her parents’ place at the age of 27 with no private life or a relationship. It takes a bicycle accident and a short coma to make her realize that it’s time to move out.

Boom

Gabriel Augerai, Romain Augier, & Charles Di Cicco

Directed by Gabriel Augerai, Romain Augier, and Charles Di Cicco
Produced by Julien Deparis
5 minutes

Synopsis: A couple of dumb birds try their best to protect their eggs from a volcanic eruption.

Eeva

Lucija Mrzljak & Morten Tsinakov

October 1, 2023
Directed by Lucija Mrzljak & Morten Tsinakov
Produced by Drasko Ivezic and Kalev Tamm
16 minutes
Adriatic Animation

Synopsis: It’s a sad day in Eva’s life. The rain is pouring down at her husband’s funeral. A woodpecker delivered a message code on the coffin is killed. There is a lot of crying, too much wine, and a couple of dreams that fill in the gaps.

Humo (Smoke)

Rita Basulto

August 11, 2023
Directed by Rita Basulto
12 minutes
Outik Animation

Synopsis: A boy, Daniel, travels by train towards a dark destination known as the smokehouse.

I’m Hip

John Musker

October 8, 2023
Directed and Produced by John Musker
4 minutes
Scribbly Pictures

Synopsis: A self-absorbed cat, in a jazzy song and dance, proudly and comically proclaims his “hipness” to the world. The world is less convinced than he is.

A Kind of Testament

Stephen Vuillemin

October 22, 2023
Directed by Stephen Vuillemin
16 minutes
Remembers

Synopsis: A young woman comes across animations on the Internet that have clearly been created from her private selfies. A stranger with the same name confesses to identity theft. But death is quicker than the answer to the question: “Why?”

Koerkorter (Dog Apartment)

Priit Tender

October 22, 2023
Directed by Priit Tender
14 minutes
Nukufilm

Synopsis: Ills of fortune have deported a ballet dancer Sergei to a suburban kolhoz. Here he’s having his mundane fights against routine, domestic animals and alcohol.

Letter to a Pig

Tal Kantor

April 28, 2022
Directed by Tal Kantor
Produced by Pierre Baussaron, Amit Gicelter, and Emmanuel-Alain Raynal
17 minutes
Miyu Productions

Synopsis: A Holocaust survivor writes, after the war, a thank-you letter to a pig that saved his life. After his testimony in a classroom, a young student dreams a tragic version of his story. Beyond her personal vision, the film also explores the themes of collective trauma, vengeance, human evil and compassion.

Ninety-Five Senses

Jared Hess & Jerusha Hess

March 27, 2023
Directed by Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess
Produced by Miles David Romney
13 minutes
MAST Studio

Synopsis: An ode to the body’s five senses delivered by a man with little time left to enjoy them.

Once upon a Studio

Dan Abraham & Trent Correy

October 15, 2023
Directed by Dan Abraham and Trent Correy
Produced by Yvett Merino and Bradford Simonsen
9 minutes
Walt Disney Pictures

Synopsis: When two new employees spend the night at Walt Disney Animation Studios, they see characters from the past and present come to life, and they all come together to take a photo for Disney’s 100th anniversary celebration.

Our Uniform

Yegane Moghaddam

October 22, 2023
Directed by Yegane Moghaddam
7 minutes

Synopsis: An Iranian girl unfolds her school memories on the wrinkles and fabrics of her old uniform.

Pachyderme

Stéphanie Clément

Directed by Stéphanie Clément
Produced by Reginald de Guillebon
11 minutes
TNZPV Productions

Synopsis: Like every summer, Louise stays at her grandparents in the countryside for a few days during the holidays. It will snow at the height of summer and a monster is going to die.

Pete

Bret ‘Brook’ Parker

Directed by Bret ‘Brook’ Parker
Produced by Jake Kaplan
7 minutes

Synopsis: Gender identity, Little League Baseball, the people who inspire change by trying to be themselves, and the superheroes who allow that change to happen.

War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko

Dave Mullins

September 21, 2023
Directed by Dave Mullins
Produced by Brad Booker
11 minutes

Synopsis: Set in an alternate WWI reality where a senseless war rages on, two soldiers on opposite sides of the conflict play a joyful game of chess. A heroic carrier pigeon delivers the soldiers’ chess moves over the battlefield as the fighting escalates. Neither soldier knows his opponent as the game and the war builds to its climatic final move. Whoever wins the game, one thing is for certain: there are no winners in war.

Wild Summon

Karni Arieli & Saul Freed

October 6, 2023
Directed by Karni Arieli and Saul Freed
Produced by Karni Arieli, Saul Freed, and Jay Woolley
14 minutes

Synopsis: A natural history fantasy film, following the dramatic lifecycle of the wild salmon in human form.