by Nathaniel R
Since the Academy doesn't always release the longlists for their short film categories (why did they stop doing this?) we have to rely on other sources. The following list is not "official" but thanks to Cartoon Brew we have an approximation of what the Oscar's qualifying long list looks like in Best Animated Short. Cartoon Brew thinks it's about 96 films long with the following titles having had either "Oscar-qualifying" wins at approved festivals, public exhibition (this is how big studio shorts often qualify since they play before movies), or honors from BAFTA or the Student Academy Awards.
The longlist, where to screen the contenders, predictions, and a few notes after the jump...
THE LONGLIST
* = qualified more than once (so they're obviously going over well at festivals)
† = qualified through theatrical exhibition
• = qualified through the Student Academy Awards or BAFTA
✰ = the filmmaker was previously nominated in this category
Bavarian director Andreas Hykade makes animated shorts for both adults and children. This, we believe, is one of the adult ones
- Altötting Andreas Hykade (Germany, Canada, Portugal)
- Am I a Wolf? Amir Houshang Moein (Iran)
- And Then the Bear Agnès Patron (France) *
- The Beauty Pascal Schelbli (Germany) • Gold medal Student Academy Awards (International Film Schools)
- Bench Rich Webber (U.K.) He works frequently for Aardman Animation
- Beyond Noh Patrick Smith (U.S./Japan)
- Burrow Madeline Sharafian (U.S.) † streaming on DisneyPlus
- Butterflies in Berlin — Diary of a Soul Split in Two Monica Manganelli (Italy)
- Canvas Frank Abney (U.S.) † streaming on Netflix
- Ciervo Pilar Garcia-Fernandezsesma (U.S.) • Gold medal Student Academy Awards (Domestic Film Schools)
Siqi Song, nominated last year for "Sister" is back with "The Coin"
- The Coin Siqi Song (U.S.) ✰ streaming on YouTube
- Coming Home Benjamin Swiczinsky (Austria)
- Cops and Robbers Arnon Manor, Timothy Ware-Hill (U.S.) † streaming on Netflix
- Cosmic Fling Jonathan Langager (U.S.)
- Crunch Liukaidi Peng/GOF Animation (U.S.)
- Dalia’s Still Here Nuria Menchaca (Mexico)
- A Dark Day of Injustice Julio Azamor, Daniela Fiore (Argentina)
- Dont Know What Thomas Renoldner (Austria) streaming on Vimeo
- Elo Alexandra Ramires (Portugal/France)
"El Pájarocubo" is about a songbird who eats as much as he can to become too big for his cage
- El Pájarocubo Jorge Alberto Vega Rivera (Colombia)
- Empty Places Geoffroy de Crécy (France)
- The Fabric of You Josephine Lohoar Self (U.K.)
- Float Bobby Rubio (U.S.) † streaming on DisneyPlus
- 4 North A Jordan Canning & Howie Shia (Canada) †
- Freeze Frame Soetkin Versteken (Belgium)
- Friends Florian Grolig (Germany)
- Genius Loci Adrien Mérigeau (France)
- Grab My Hand: A Letter to My Dad Camrus Johnson, Pedro Piccinini (U.S.)
- Grandad Was a Romantic Maryam Mohajer (U.K.) • BAFTA winner
- The Great Malaise Catherine Lepage (Canada) †
"Hamsa" took the bronze medal at the Student Academy Awards
- Hamsa Chrisy Baek, Daniela Dwek, Maya Mendonça (U.S.) •
- Harvest Sun Lijun (China)
- Have a Nice Dog! Jalal Maghout (Germany/Syria)
- Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth Douglas Carrigan, Philip Hunt (U.S.) streaming on Apple TV
- Homeless Home Alberto Vázquez (France/Spain)
"Moi, Barnabé" is from the National Film Board of Canada... the NFB often has strong Oscar contenders
- I, Barnabé Jean-François Lévesque (Canada) †
- If Anything Happens I Love You Michael Govier and Will McCormack (U.S.) streaming on Netflix
- Inside Me Maria Trigo Teixeira (Germany)
- Just a Guy Shoko Hara (Germany)
- Kapaemahu Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu (U.S.) *
- Kids Michael Frei (Switzerland)
- KKUM Kim Kang-min (South Korea)
- Lal Gökalp Gönen (Turkey)
- Little Hilly Yun-Sian Huang, Pei-Yu Liao (Taiwan) streaming on YouTube
- The Lonely Orbit Benjamin Morard, Frederic Siegel (Switzerland)
- Loop Erica Milsom (U.S.) streaming on DisneyPlus
- Lost and Crowned Borja Peña Gorostegui (U.S.) †
- Maggie Simpson in “Playdate with Destiny” David Silverman (U.S.) ✰ streaming on DisneyPlus
- Matches Géza M. Tóth (Hungary) ✰
- Me (Yo) Begoña Aróstegui (Spain)
- Melting Heart Cake Benoît Chieux (France) †
- Mi Hermano Luca Carlos Algara, Catalina Serna (Mexico)
"Mime Your Manners" took the Silver Medal at the Student Academy Awards
- Mime Your Manners Kate Namowicz, Skyler Porras (U.S.) • streaming on YouTube
- Minor Accident of War Piotr Kabat, Diane Weis (U.S.)
- My Galactic Twin Galaction Sasha Svirsky (Russia)
- My Life in Versailles Nathaniel H’Limi & Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat (France) †
- My Wish List Don G. R. Jayamanne (U.K.) †
- Naked Kirill Khachaturov (Russia)
- O28 Otalia Caussé, Geoffroy Collin, Louise Grardel, Antoine Marchand, Robin Merle, Fabien Meyran (France) reviewed at HollyShorts
- Opera Erick Oh (South Korea/U.S.)
- Orgiastic Hyper-Plastic Paul Bush (Denmark, U.K.)
- Out Steven Clay Hunter (U.S.) † streaming on DisneyPlus
- Petty Thing Li Zexi (China)
- The Power of Hope Kalia Love Jones (U.S.) †
- Précieux Paul Mas (France)
- Purpleboy Alexandre Siqueira (Portugal/France)
- The Quiet Radheya Jegatheva (Australia)
- Red Rover Astrid Goldsmith (U.K.)
- Sh_t Happens Michaela Mihalyi, Dávid Štumpf (Czech Republic, Slovakia, France) †
- The Shawl Sara Kiener (U.S.)
- The Snail and the Whale Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon (U.K.) †✰
Farzaneh Omidarnia specializs in fabric sculptures as you can see here in her short "Song Sparrow"
- Song Sparrow Farzaneh Omidvarnia (Iran)
- Sororelle Frederic Even, Louise Mercadier (France)
- Spanner Rex Grignon
- The Story of the “I’m Alone” Allison Wolvers (Canada)
- Symbiosis Nadja Andrasev (France/Hungary)
- The Tattooed Torah Marc Bennett (U.S.)
- Tiger and Ox Seunghee Kim (South Korea)
- The Tiger Who Came to Tea Robin Shaw (U.K.)
- A Tiger With No Stripes Raúl Robin Morales Reyes (France/Switzerland)
- To Gerard Taylor Meacham (U.S.) †
- To the Dusty Sea Héloïse Ferlay (France)
an office worker moonlights as a gigolo in "Toomas"
- Toomas Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves Chintis Lundgren (Estonia/Croatia/France) †
- The Torture Letters Laurence Ralph (U.S.)
- Tot Tom Getty, Fiona McLaughlin, Aimee Kirkham Priester (U.K.)
- Traces Hugo Frassetto, Sophie Tavert Macian (France/Belgium)
- Umbilical Danski Tang (U.S./China)
- Umbrella Helena Hilario, Mario Pece (Brazil)
- Untitled Fan Bei Lu
- Why Slugs Have no Legs Aline Höchli (Switzerland)
- Wild Love Paul Autric, Quentin Camus, Léa Georges, Maryka Laudet, Zoé Sottiaux, Corentin Yvergniaux (France)
- Wind Edwin Chang (U.S.) † streaming on DisneyPlus
- Windup Yibing Jiang
- World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime Don Hertzfeldt (U.S.) ✰†
- The Wrong Rock Michael Cawood (U.K./U.S.)
- Yes-People Gísli Darri Halldórsson (Iceland)
Have you seen any of these shorts yet? Here are our foolish predictions -- foolish, in that anything might always happen in this category.