Shock: Pixar On Oscar Shortlist for Animated Shorts

Another list of potential Academy Award nominees has been released, this time in the animated short film category. No, it's not exactly the inside word on Best Picture coming a few weeks early, but I can say from experience, having made a little noise in order to get a DVD of all the nominees in this category the past two years, Animated Short is a great category, and one that should get a bigger spotlight. After all, these filmmakers are telling complete stories, usually on tiny budgets, if just a matter of minutes. Last year, Pixar didn't win for Presto, nor did the company deserve it. There were a couple better animated shorts last year. Of course, Pixar is on the short list again with Partly Cloudy, the short that preceded Up in theaters. Because the odds are that you haven't heard of any of the others, you might automatically gravitate to the Pixar flick because of the company's sterling reputation. However, last year was no fluke; there are tons of great filmmakers in this category that don't have anything to do with Disney. So here are the films that could wind up in the animated short category. Like the documentaries and animated features, these semi-finalists will be whittled to five...and hopefully I'll get another DVD in the mail in late January. The Cat Piano (The People's Republic of Animation)
French Roast (Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films)
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (Brown Bag Films)
The Kinematograph (Platige Image)
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte) (Kandor Graphics and Green Moon)
Logorama (Autour de Minuit)
A Matter of Loaf and Death (Aardman Animations Ltd.)
Partly Cloudy (Pixar Animation Studios)
Runaway (National Film Board of Canada)
Variete (il Luster Productions) I can't guarantee you'll find all of these short films online somewhere, but there are probably a few on YouTube or DailyMotion or something right now, so do some legwork and find a cool cartoon.