Nov 5, 2014

10 Animated Short Films Nominated for 2014 Academy Awards

From left to right, "The Dam Keeper," "Coda," and "Symphony No. 42."

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this afternoon announced the list of 10 animated short films that will advance in the voting process for this year's Academy Awards. The finalists were selected from the 58 films nominated in the short animation category.

Former Oscar winners Trill Cove, William Joyce, Brandon Oldenburg, and two-time Oscar nominee Bill Plympton made the short list. Disney also made the shortlist again with Patrick Osborne's "Feast," and Disney legend-turned-Googler Glen Keane made the list with his directorial debut, "Duets."

It's an ultra-competitive year with a number of innovative films in the competition. Daisy Jacobs' "The Bigger Picture" and Rekha Buksi's "Symphony No. 42" (Buksi just won two more awards at last weekend's Primanima Film Festival). Also Oscar-worthy are indie short films such as "Coda," "The Dam Keeper," and "A Single Life."

Pixar, once dominant, has failed to win two years in a row. Last year the Academy ignored "The Blue Umbrella" and this year "Lava" was selected. The last Pixar short to be nominated was "La Luna" in 2011. (Disclosure: I authored "The Art of Pixar Short Films.")

(Incidentally, eight of the ten nominated films were previously identified on Cartoon Brew's shortlist, which we compiled without input from the Academy.)

The Academy's nominees for the finalists were.

The 10 finalists are listed below in alphabetical order. Congratulations to!

"The Big Picture Daisy Jacobs (Director), Christopher Heath (Producer) National Film and Television School

Coda Alan Holly, director And Maps and Plans

Dam Keeper Robert Conduit, Dice Tsutsumi, dir. Tonko House

Duet Glen Keane, dir. Glen Keane Productions & ATAP

Feast Patrick Osborne, Director; Christina Reed, Producer Walt Disney Animation Studios

Footprints Bill Plympton, Director. Bill Plimpton Studios

Me and My Moulton Directed by Trill Cove Co-produced with the National Film Board of Canada

The Numberlys Directed by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg Moonbot Studios

Single Life Directed by Joris Oprins Job, Joris & Marieke

Symphony No. 42 Reka Bussi dir. Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest

The Academy's Jury for Animated Short Films and Feature Films selected the shortlist after viewing the submissions at screenings held last month in Los Angeles and New York.

Currently, the Short and Feature Animation Jury selects three to five films from this short list of ten. Chapter screenings to determine the nominated films will be held in Los Angeles, New York, London, and San Francisco in December.

Nominations will be announced on January 15, 2015.