Oscar Nominations in detail – Best Animated Short Films

Many of the smaller Oscar Film categories tend to get ignored so we’ve decided to profile all the short films that are nominated for Academy Awards in 2010. First of all we’re taking a look at the 5 films up for Best Animated Short Film, and have posted our review and the films below (or trailer if its not available) so you can watch them all.

French Roast
This 7 minute French short film has no need for subtitles as there’s only a few words of dialogue. It’s a simple and revealing portrait of everyday habits as we follow a French customer at a cafe and his interactions as he realises he has forgotten his wallet. Wiht some great moments of comedy it’s easy to see why this one is on the Oscar shortlist. It comes from filmmaker Fabrice O. Jouberts who has worked on feature animation titles like Flushed Away, Shark Tale and Wallace and Gromit Curse of the Were Rabbit and French Roast has already won the Best animation award at the ANIMA Animation Festival last year In Argentina.



Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty

This short by Irish filmmaker Nicky Phelan is a humorous look at how we treat the elderly, as a Grandma reads her own version of Sleeping Beauty to her granddaughter at bedtime. With a mixture of animation styles in granny’s version Sleeping Beauty was punished by her granny because Beauty’s family ignored granny as they thought she was old – it wquickly becomes clear Granny O’Grimm’s is bitter about how she is treated by her own family as an old person. This is quite funny and at only 6 minutes long its well deserved of its nomination.

The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
We have posted the trailer for this short 8 minute film below but you can watch the whole thing at the films offical site at http://212.227.136.88/press/ . This Spanish short comes form first time filmmaker Javier Recio Gracia and tells the tale of another old lady but this one is patiently waiting for her death so she can join her husband in heaven. However when she finally does die she wakes up to find she has been saved from deaths door by a doctor.

Logorama
This film won the Best Short Film at the Stockholm Film Festival last year and is a film by French collective H5 (filmmakers Francois Alaux, Herve de Crecy and Ludovic Houplain). It is a satirical and intersting look at corporate branding as its set in a world full of literally hundreds and thousands of logos, where the characters are all well known brand representations such as the Michelin man and theres even a gun-toting Ronald McDonald. Its full of violence and swearing so beware before you watch!

Part 1

Part 2

A Matter of Loaf and Death
The last short on the list will be known to most frontrow readers already as it is Nick Parks tale of the lovable duo Wallace and his dog, Gromit. In this tale Wallace and Gromit open a bakery but someone is out to get the bakers so they have to keep their wits about them. Its hilarious and by far my favourite on the animated short list but then I’ve loved Wallace and Gromit since early childhood. It’s probably the favourite for the Oscar as well having won a last years Bafta’s among others. We can’t post the whole film but here’s the trailer – this is also the only film that is currently available to buy.

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