Oscar Watch 2011

Director: Blu [Italy]
Synopsis: Argentine artist Blu’s trademark stop-motion graffiti technique depicts an “unscientific” perspective on the beginning, evolution and probable end of life.
Qualifying Win: Special Jury Award (Annecy Festival Int’l du Cinéma d’Animation)

Director: Kirsten Lepore (U.S.)
Synopsis: Shot on location, Lepore's latest stop-motion effort tells the bittersweet story of two characters—a lump of sand and a pile of snow—who form a transoceanic friendship trading objects in a bottle.
Qualifying Wins: Best Animated Short (Florida Film Festival); Sparky Award for Best Animated Short (Slamdance Film Festival)

Director: Matt Piedmont [U.S.]
Synopsis: The first two parts of Piedmont's four-parter puppet miniseries for HBO's Funny or Die Presents find Brick Novax preserving his tales of adventure to secure his reputation as the coolest guy in the world.
Qualifying Win: Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking (Sundance Film Festival)

Director: Pedro Solís García [Spain]
Synopsis: In 3D artist García's directorial debut, an old witch searches for love at any cost.
Qualifying Win: Goya Award for Best Short Animation (Academia de las Artes y Ciencias Cinematograficas de España)

Director: Zach Hyer [Pratt Inst., NY]
Synopsis: A CG-animated tale set in an undefined war, the film explores issues of power abuse and control as the main character risks his life for a frivolous cause.
Qualifying Win: Student Academy Award – Gold Medal (Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences)

Directors: Bernardo Warman, Shaofu Zhang, Lisa Allen [Academy of Art Univ., CA]
Synopsis: An epic battle for love and honor unfolds as three children become a princess, knight and dragon in their school play.
Qualifying Win: Student Academy Award – Gold Medal (Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences)

Director: Michael Please (U.K.)
Synopsis: This darkly comic stop-motion piece explores a man's obsession with the quickening of time that faces us as we age, and his attempts to counter this effect.
Qualifying Wins: Best Short Animation (British Academy of Film and Television Arts); Best Animated Short Film (Los Angeles Film Festival); Grand Jury Prize – Animation (Seattle Int'l Film Festival)

Director: David Chai [U.S.]
Synopsis: Chai, an assistant professor at San Jose State University, lends a refreshingly hand-crafted feel to his 2D short in which Enrique learns that “actions speak louder than birds.”
Qualifying Win: First Place – Animation (USA Film Festival)

Director: David O'Reilly [Ireland/Germany/U.S.]
Synopsis: A menagerie of characters in a series of bizarre vignettes are woven together in this trippy CG critique of life and its inherent futility. At least, that's our best guess.
Qualifying Wins: Yoram Gross Award for Best Animation (FlickerFest); Best Short Animation (Guanajuato Int'l Film Festival); Golden Gate Award – Animated Short (San Francisco Int'l Film Festival); Grand Prix – Int'l Competition (Stuttgart Int'l Animation Festival)

Directors: William Joyce, Brandon Oldenburg (U.S.)
Synopsis: After a violent storm carries off his home, Mr. Morris Lessmore discovers a magical library full of very animated volumes in this CG charmer.
Qualifying Wins: Best Animated Short (Cinequest Film Festival); Best Animated Short Film (Cleveland Int'l Film Festival); Best of Show (SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival)

Director: Kei Oyama [Japan]
Synopsis: An adolescent boy's insecurity, body obsession and ill-at-ease family are reflected in details and objects that occasionally take on a life of their own.
Qualifying Win: Chris Frayne Award for Best Animated Film (Ann Arbor Film Festival)

Director: Nandita Jain [U.K.]
Synopsis: Based on a myth from Southern India, the film explores Nirmala's relationship with her grandfather, who struggles to recall the details of her favorite story, leading her to take on the role of storyteller.
Qualifying Win: Best Animation (LA Shorts Fest)

Director: Theodore Ushev [Canada]
Synopsis: The haunting hand-painted film explores the troubled life of Canadian experimental animator Arthur Lipsett, who committed suicide in 1986.
Qualifying Win: Genie Award for Best Animated Short (Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television)

Directors: Johannes Weiland, Uwe Heidschötter
Synopsis: In this sweet CG animated short from Studio Soi, a young boy deals with the tribulations of having one's mother suddenly transformed into a monster. The project was commissioned by German kids channel KI.KA.
Qualifying Win: Special Jury Award – Animation (New York Int'l Children's Film Festival)

Director: Kamil Polak [Poland/Canada]
Synopsis: Inspired by art of the Middle Ages and 19th century Slavonic paintings, this epic tale of a man's journey to heroism was crafted with a unique blend of CG techniques and traditional animation in oils.
Qualifying Win: Best Animation (Palm Springs Int'l Shortfest)

Director: Dean Fleischer-Camp [U.S.]
Synopsis: Equal parts adorable and semi-tragic, this stop-motion short takes us into the world of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (voiced by co-writer and former SNL member Jenny Slate) as he shares facts about his tiny existence.
Qualifying Win: Grand Prize Short (New York Int'l Children's Film Festival)

Director: Stephen Irwin [U.K.]
Synopsis: Irwin's trademark smudgy, Noir-ish digital/traditional 2D technique brings us the tale of a pyromaniac bear who misses his mother.
Qualifying Win: Grand Prize for Best Independent Short Animation (Ottawa Int'l Animation Festival)

Director: Alister Lockhart; co-director Patrick Sarell [Australia]
Synopsis: This CG tale from Aussie outfit The LampShade Collective packs the stresses of road rage, nicotine withdrawal and generational conflict into a journey along Australia's longest, straightest desert road.
Qualifying Wins: Holmesglen Award for Best Animation Short Film (Melbourne Int'l Film Festival); Yoram Gross Animation Award (Sydney Film Festival)

Director: Patrick Jean [France]
Synopsis: Old-school videogame characters wreak CG havoc on live footage of New York in this techno-retro animation and fx showpiece.
Qualifying Win: Le Cristal d'Annecy (Annecy Festival Int'l du Cinéma d'Animation)

Director: Jason Carpenter
Synopsis: Carpenter's digital 2D tale draws from his childhood daycare experiences, centering on a young boy left at his grandmother's house where a strange man rents a room.
Qualifying Win: Best Animated Short (Atlanta Film Festival)

Directors: Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata [U.S.]
Synopsis: This dark comedy from Porter/Kuwahata's Tiny Inventions mixed-media animation team documents a vacationing couple's chance encounter with a man they believe to be the Zodiac Killer.
Qualifying Win: Best Animated Short (Nashville Film Festival)

Director: Jean-Claude Rozec [France]
Synopsis: When little Arnaud learns he has to wear a pair of hideous, painful glasses, he find he much prefers the vague world of his nearsightedness, populated with fanciful creatures from his imagination.
Qualifying Win: Best Animation (Aspen Shortsfest)

Director: Iain Gardner (U.K.)
Synopsis: When Fox encounters the ghost of a rabbit, they develop an usual relationship. But when a Hunter prepares a pelt for market, and Fox learns of his connection to The Tannery.
Qualifying Win: Best Animated Short (Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival)

Director: Beomsik Shimbe Shim [S. Korea/U.S.]
Synopsis: A blend of CG animation and puppetry weave the surreal tale of a mysterious hospital where a girl's desire for beauty sends her chasing around the hospital only to find an irreversible end.
Qualifying Win: Best Animated Short (South By South West)

Director: Enrico Casarosa
Synopsis: A young boy discovers his family's unusual line of work in this wonderful short directed by Pixar's gifted head of story.

Directors: Stevie Wermers-Skelton, Kevin Deters
Synopsis: The legendary Loch Ness Monster and his best friend McQuack the Duck fight an evil land developer in this 2D Disney short.

Director: Matthew O'Callaghan
Synopsis: Using recordings by the legendary Mel Blanc, this new Looney Tunes short gives us a 3-D, CG take on the battle between Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat. Granny is voiced by the amazing June Foray.