Oscar Week: The Shorts – The Academy Celebrates The Live Action And Animated Films

On Tuesday evening, The Academy kicked off Oscar Week. In the final days leading up to Oscar Sunday, movie fans will be offered throughout the week a up-close look with a series of public programs celebrating this year’s nominees in the Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Animated and Live Action Short Film categories.

Hosted by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Oscar Nominated for Kung Fu Panda 2, and director of Kung Fu Panda 3, the evening spotlighted the Animated Short Film and Live Action Short Film categories.

The “Oscar Week: Shorts” event, held at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, featured a screening of all 10 nominated shorts in their entirety, as well as discussions with all of the nominated filmmakers.

On the heels of breaking box office records for this year’s OSCAR nominated short films in theaters across the country, ShortsHD, the Only Short Film Channel (www.shorts.tv) will unveil the 2016 OSCAR Nominated Short Film Live Action | Select Animation collection via the major digital platforms and cable providers. The films will also be available on cable via the industry’s Movies on Demand platforms well as satellite VOD platforms starting today.

“2016 OSCAR Nominated Short Film Live Action | Select Animation” will showcase the Live Action and select Animation short film nominees. This is the last chance to view nominated shorts before the 88^th Academy Awards on Sunday February 28 hosted by Chris Rock.

From left: Host Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala, co-directors of the Oscar® nominated animated short film “Bear Story“, Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton, co-directors of the Oscar® nominated animated short film “Prologue“, Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle, co-directors of the Oscar® nominated animated short film “Sanjay’s Super Team“ and Konstantin Bronzit, director of the Oscar® nominated animated short film “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos“

All the directors praised their fellow nominees up on stage and expressed to the audience how these films couldn’t be made without the many artists and below the line teams.

This year’s selection of animated films demonstrates an extraordinary range of filmmaking techniques, from hand-drawn animation to CG.

Best animated short film

“Bear Story” A Punkrobot Animation Studio Production
Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala

Every day, a melancholy old bear takes a mechanical diorama that he has created out to his street corner. For a coin, passersby can look into the peephole of his invention, which tells the story of a circus bear who longs to escape and return to the family from which he was taken.

“Prologue” An Animation Masterclass Production
Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton

2,400 years ago, four warriors — two Spartan and two Athenian — battle to the death in an intense struggle witnessed by a little girl, who then runs to her grandmother for comfort.

“Sanjay’s Super Team” (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production
Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle

“We Can’t Live without Cosmos” A Melnitsa Animation Studio Production
Konstantin Bronzit

“World of Tomorrow” A Bitter Films Production
Don Hertzfeldt

A little girl named Emily is taken on a fantastical tour of her distant future by a surprising visitor who reveals unnerving secrets about humanity’s fate.

Best live action short film

The live action films come from all over the world and feature a range of diverse characters, each with their own impactful story to tell.

“Ave Maria” An Incognito Films Production
Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont

Five nuns living in the West Bank find their routine disrupted when the car of a family of Israeli settlers breaks down outside the convent. Unable to use the telephone due to Sabbath restrictions, the family needs help from the nuns, but the sisters’ vow of silence requires them to work with their visitors to find an unorthodox solution.

“Day One” An American Film Institute Production
Henry Hughes

On the heels of a painful divorce, an Afghan-American woman joins the U.S. military as an interpreter and is sent to Afghanistan. On her first mission, she accompanies troops pursuing a bomb-maker, and must bridge the gender and culture gap to help the man’s pregnant wife when she goes into labor.

“Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)” A Filmakademie Wien Production
Patrick Vollrath

Michael, a divorced father devoted to his eight-year-old daughter, Lea, picks her up for their usual weekend together. At first it feels like a normal visit, but Lea soon realizes that something is different, and so begins a fateful journey.

“Shok” An Eagle Eye Films Production
Jamie Donoughue

In Kosovo in 1998, two young boys are best friends living normal lives, but as war engulfs their country, their daily existence becomes filled with violence and fear. Soon, the choices they make threaten not only their friendship, but their families and their lives.

“Stutterer” A Bare Golly Films Production
Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage

For a lonely typographer, an online relationship has provided a much-needed connection without revealing the speech impediment that has kept him isolated. Now, however, he is faced with the proposition of meeting his online paramour in the flesh, and thereby revealing the truth about himself.

On hand for the evening were Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala, co-directors of the Oscar nominated animated short film “Bear Story“, Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton, co-directors of the Oscar nominated animated short film “Prologue“, Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle, co-directors of the Oscar nominated animated short film “Sanjay’s Super Team“ and Konstantin Bronzit, director of the Oscar nominated animated short film “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos.“

See All Oscar Week Events

February 23: Shorts

February 24: Documentaries

February 25: Feature Animation

February 27: Foreign Language Film

February 27: Makeup and Hairstyling Symposium

The 88th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.