In the Shadow of the Cypress, from directors Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi, screened and won at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival. This LA Shorts, Animayo and Spark Animation winner is also one of the 15 finalists for Best Animated Short Film at the 97th Annual Academy Awards. A father and daughter must work together to figure out how to keep a whale that washed ashore — and their relationship — alive. (This Animation Scoop Interview was conducted as an Email Q&A and was edited for length and clarity.)

Q: How did you want to show the complexities of this father-daughter relationship?

A: Well, you are right. As you said, it is very complicated to make a film about very delicate human relationships. Our story centers around the complicated yet loving relationship between a father struggling with PTSD and his daughter. Developing the story is like brewing a fine tea or herbal infusion – it requires enough time to get shaped gradually; otherwise it wouldn’t reach its full potential. With this in mind, we dedicated significant time to story development. We tried to challenge our own narrative and the characters’ motivations from different perspectives by asking challenging questions. We tried to put ourselves in the characters’ and also the audience’s shoes and observe the story from their points of view. This way, we managed to find delicate flaws and weaknesses within the narrative. In addition to that, we needed some references to cope with the details and the complexities of the relationship between the characters.

One of this year’s 15 Best Animated Short Film Oscars finalists is Magic Candies, directed by Daisuke Nishio. A boy puts colorful pieces of candy in his mouth, and suddenly he can communicate with others like never before. The original story is based on Heena Baek’s picture book. This Animation Scoop Interview with Magic Candies producer Takashi Washio (executive director at Toei Animation) was conducted as an Email Q&A and was edited for length and clarity.

JM: What was it about this unique, innovative story that made you want to be part of “Magic Candies”?

TW: The Japanese publisher of “Magic Candies” introduced me to the original book. I read it and it blew my mind. It was the first time for me to read a Korean picture book. I was fascinated by the bizarre story of licking a mysterious candy ball and hearing the voices of objects, animals, and human minds. And its clay-animation-like style harmonized wonderfully with the story, portraying characters very vividly. I had never seen such a technique in any picture book before. I was eager to make an animated film of this book.

One of the 15 Best Animated Short Film finalists for the 97th Annual Academy Awards is Percebes. This hand-drawn short from directors Alexandra Ramires and Laura Goncalves is about the life of goose barnacles… and much more. (This Animation Scoop Interview was conducted as an Email Q&A and was edited for length and clarity.)

Q: How did you want to explore the multiple meanings of ‘percebes’?

A: The Percebes is a much-loved animal for the inhabitants of that region. It is also a visually very curious animal, with various stories and names associated with it. It means “understand” in Portuguese, which is the source of a lot of jokes around the animal, because it is hard to understand. It’s also the reason why Charles Darwin did not publish the Theory of Evolution earlier. He couldn’t explain it! For all these reasons, it became a very rich element when we were defining the story, when we were drawing, and when we were making a socio-economic portrait of that region of the Algarve. In a very intuitive way, the metaphors of this animal and the similarities with the Algarvians multiplied. As soon as we realized this, we embraced Percebe like the mute narrator.

Director Nicolas Keppens’ stop-motion Beautiful Men is on the 2025 Academy Awards Best Animated Short Film shortlist. Three brothers, who happen to be bald, go to Istanbul for hair transplants. What will they discover, will they get along, and will they feel happy with their decisions? Keppens dissects it all in this Animation Scoop Q&A. (This interview was conducted via email and was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: The concept is very attention-grabbing. Was it inspired by real life, someone you know, or just a unique idea you came up with?

Nicolas Keppens: I went to Istanbul for work in 2018. My colleagues and I stayed at a hotel which had a collaboration with a hair clinic, so in the morning, at breakfast, we were all surprised by the look of the breakfast room. It was filled with bald men, waiting for their hair transplant. It was surreal and touching at the same time. I always wanted to implement this image in the film but we decided rather late in the process to change the technique to stop-motion, which made it a very expensive sequence.

The miniature performers in a children’s TV show must figure out what to do when their human creator dies. Wander to Wonder goes down unexpected paths. Director Nina Gantz explains how she arrived at making her 2025 Oscars shortlisted animated short. (This Animation Scoop Interview was conducted as an Email Q&A and was edited for length and clarity. Images Credits: Gantz and Y. Bosch)

Jackson Murphy: What do you love about children’s TV shows?

Nina Gantz: I mostly like the older kids TV shows which show a lot of craft and use a lot of traditional techniques, such as The Wombles, The Clangers, Colargol and Cheburaska. A lot of them are sweet and innocent but they all have a slight weirdness which I love!

A first kiss between two kids is the subject of director Loic Espuche’s charming comedy Yuck! (Beurk!), which is one of the 15 finalists for the 2025 Best Animated Short Film Oscar. (This interview was conducted as an Animation Scoop Email Q&A and was edited for length and clarity. Images Credit: IKKI Films)

Jackson Murphy: Did you think kissing was gross when you were young?

Loic Espuche: Yes, I found it really really disgusting! Especially the idea of saliva mixing when people kiss with their tongues. But paradoxically, I was too eager to kiss Sophie, my lover!

15 shorts will be narrowed down to five early on in 2025 for the latest Best Animated Short Film Academy Awards category. One of the hopefuls is The Wild-Tempered Clavier, from director Anna Samo. She pays tribute to the music of Bach and the art of filmmaking with this unique presentation. (This Animation Scoop Interview was conducted as an Email Q&A and was edited for length and clarity. Images provided by Samo.)

Jackson Murphy: How does Bach’s music inspire you?

Anna Samo: Bach’s music has always been special for me. It has this transcendent quality and gives me the feeling of connection to something most important in life. When I feel overwhelmed, or distracted I like to listen to Bach to regain focus on what really matters. I remember when the pandemic hit New York City my family and I would drive to the ocean and take long walks along the shore. We would stare at the horizon line where the water touches the skies and reflect on how this view has been the same for millions of years. We would listen to the sound of waves breaking and be reassured, because we knew those sounds were the same for centuries.