Oscar Shorts

 It's Oscar time and last week I went to the Academy's New York screening

of all the eligible animated shorts. There were a record number of 57 films - in

fact, so many films that we had to watch them over 2 days. There were a couple

of interesting developments; almost all of the films were shown in digital format

(DCP) and only 7 films were projected on 35mm.

This year, apart from one or two really bad shorts, they were all pretty

good. In fact, I counted a number of films that, to my mind, could win the Oscar.

One film, "Hybrid Union" by Seguei Kouchnerov, is a wacky race between

whimsical machines against a rain cloud.

"Tram", by Michaela Pavlatova, which won the grand prize at Annecy, is a

very erotic tale of a sex-obsessed trolley driver.

"Adam & Dog", written and directed by Minkyu Lee, is a beautifully

animated short about the first man's relationship with a dog. Glen Keane and

James Baxter were associated with the film. However, it seemed I was the only

person who really appreciated the beautiful draftsmanship - no one else liked it.

"Oh Willy" is a puppet-animated short about a boy who loses his mother

and is adopted by a Sasquatch. The film had a lot of buzz after.

"Fresh Guacamole", by the legendary PES, got the best reaction after the

screening.

And one of my faves, "Junkyard" by Hisko Hulsing, the dutch animator

of "Seventeen", is a real tour de force of illustration.

And lastly, "Paperman" a beautiful love story by John Khars, from Disney

Animation studios. The film has a huge push from the Disney Corporation and

can be seen in front of "Wreck-It Ralph".

I apologize for the big gap in my blogging schedule. Blame it on Sandy

(The Frankenstorm). I lost power for almost a week so I was preoccupied with

keeping my hands warm.

Be sure to check out my Cheatin' production blog. Here's a new episode! 

Cheatin' Production Blog - Episode Eleven - Animation - Part 2 from Bill Plympton on Vimeo.

See ya next week.