Academy Award-Nominated Animated Short Films 2012
Friday, February 10 - Thursday, March 22, 2012
All five of this year’s Academy Award nominees for Best Animated Short Film — including a new short from Pixar Studios making its theatrical debut — plus four “Highly Commended” animated titles.
Sunday/Dimanche (10 min., English, Patrick Doyon)
Every Sunday, it’s the same old routine! The train clatters through the village and almost shakes the pictures off the wall. In the church, Dad dreams about his toolbox. And of course later Grandma will get a visit and the animals will meet their fate.
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (15 min., No Dialogue, William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg)
Inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, 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 MGM Technicolor musicals. Morris Lessmore is old fashioned and cutting edge at the same time.
La Luna (7 min., English, Enrico Casaroasa)
A 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.
A Morning Stroll (7 min., No Dialogue, Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe)
When a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we’re left to wonder which one is the real city slicker.
Wild Life (13 min., English, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby)
Calgary, 1909: an Englishman moves to the Canadian frontier, but is singularly unsuited to it. His letters home are much sunnier than the reality. Intertitles compare his fate to that of a comet.
Plus the following “Highly Commended” Animated titles:
Nullarbor (10 min., English, Alister Lockhart)
An animated road movie set across the vast and barren landscape of Australia’s Nullarbor Plain.
Amazonia (5 min., English, Sam Chen)
In the dangerous world of the Amazon Rainforest, finding a meal proves to be an impossible task for a little tree-frog named Bounce. His luck changes when he meets Biggy, a blue-bellied treefrog who takes him under his guidance and shows him the ways of the jungle in this animated journey set to Beethoven’s Symphony No.8.
Skylight (5 min., English, David Baas)
Skylight is a mock animated documentary about the ecological plight of penguins in the Antarctic, possibly foretelling cataclysmic results for the rest of the world.
Hybrid Union (4 min., English, Serguei Kouchnerov)
In the imaginary land of Cyberdesert, Plus and Minus struggle with a dependency on an outdated source of energy. The mysterious self-sufficient Smart presents a new challenge for Plus and Minus and forces them to form an alliance — The Hybrid Union!
- Running Time 79 minutes
IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.