Oscar Week 2017: The Shorts

In the week leading up to the 89th Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present 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. All events will be held at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

WAMG attended the annual AMPAS reception featuring the 2016 Oscar nominated films in the Animated and Live-Action Short Film categories. The program featured screenings of all the nominated films in these categories, plus an onstage discussion with the filmmakers.

The evening was hosted by director Tim Miller (Deadpool), who himself was nominated in the Animated Short category in 2005 (Gopher Broke). In his opening comments, a clearly emotional Miller spoke about shorts being, for most filmmakers, a labor of love rather than a means to getting awards and accolades. “That’s not why we do this,” he said. “The reason to do this is because you love it… Never get caught up in the other stuff.”

Short Film (Animated)
“Blind Vaysha” – Theodore Ushev
“Borrowed Time” – Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj
“Pear Cider and Cigarettes” – Robert Valley and Cara Speller
“Pearl” – Patrick Osborne
“Piper” – Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer

Short Film (Live Action)
“Ennemis Intérieurs” – Sélim Azzazi
“La Femme Et Le TGV” – Timo von Gunten and Giacun Caduff
“Silent Nights” – Aske Bang and Kim Magnusson
“Sing” – Kristof Deák and Anna Udvardy
“Timcode” – Juanjo Giménez

The nominated animated shorts were the usual fare, including the now expected entry from Pixar (Piper), as well as some interesting takes on suicide and loss (Borrowed Time), family bonds and memories (Pearl), and ultimate friendship and compassion (Pear Cider and Cigarettes).

For Ushev (“Blind Vaysha”), receiving the nomination wasn’t just personal. “It’s the first time ever that Bulgaria is nominated for an Oscar,” he said to applause.

His film’s message, however, is universal. “I always wanted to make a film about our inability to live now, about our nostalgia for the past and our fear for the future,” Ushev said. The subject is a woman who can see only the past in one eye and the future in the other.

His style was influenced by woodcut prints, which allowed the story to resemble an “old book you found in your grandparents’ attic,” a relic of “lost knowledge” in the style of Middle Age paintings and manuscripts.

Lou Hamou-Lhadj and Andrew Coats, writer-directors of the Oscar® nominated animated short film “Borrowed Time“, Patrick Osborne, director of the Oscar® nominated animated short film “Pearl“, Alan Barillaro, writer-director and Marc Sondheimer, producer, of the Oscar® nominated animated short film “Piper“ and Theodore Ushev, writer-director of the Oscar® nominated animated short film “Blind Vaysha“ prior to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “Oscar Week: Shorts” event on Tuesday, February 21, 2017.

The live action category was populated with 5 foreign films representing the best of the year, the most touching being a story about standing up for yourself and others (Sing), and the timeless tale of not letting life pass you by (La Femme Et Le TGV).

The group discussed the emotional currents of their films and how they hope their work is received. “We wanted to be unpredictable,” Giménez said of his short, which follows two parking lot security guard during their shifts. “Maybe everyone in the audience knew what was going to happen… but I doubt it.”

Aske Bang, writer-director and Kim Magnusson, producer, of the Oscar® nominated live action short film “Silent Nights“, Sélim Azzazi, writer-director of the Oscar® nominated live action short film “Ennemis Inteérieurs“, Juanjo Giménez, writer-producer-director of the Oscar® nominated live action short film “Timecode“, Giacun Caduff, producer, and Timo von Gunten, writer-director of the Oscar® nominated live action short film “La Femme et le TGV“, and Kristof Deák, writer-director of the Oscar® nominated live action short film “Sing“ prior to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “Oscar Week: Shorts” event on Tuesday, February 21, 2017.

Here’s wishing the best of luck come Oscar night to the filmmakers who clearly put their heart and souls into each of these films!

For a full list of nominees, visit http://oscar.go.com/nominees.

The 89th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.