João Gonzalez directs Ice Merchants, one of the 15 2023 Academy Awards Best Animated Short Film finalists. It’s about a father and son who live in a house on the edge of a cliff. Each day, they dive way, way down, providing ice to townspeople. Their lives are exciting… and quite dangerous. Gonzalez details the […]

My Year of Dicks is one of the 15 finalists for the 2023 Best Animated Short Film Oscar. Director Sara Gunnarsdottir, writer Pamela Ribon and producer Jeanette Jeanenne present a memorable year in the life of a teen girl, who goes through some personal ups and downs, learning what it truly means to have a […]

Uri Lotan is the director of Black Slide, one of the 15 finalists for this year’s Best Animated Short Film Academy Award. It’s based on true events from his childhood. A boy named Eviah is nervous about going down a massive, black slide at a water park. But there’s more that’s on his mind. Lotan […]

Stop-motion animation legend Andy Gent, who teamed-up with Wes Anderson on Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs, also worked on The Humane Society’s campaign and short film Save Ralph. It’s about a rabbit who’s a tester for cosmetics. Through Taika Waititi’s voice work as the title character, and the animation work from Gent and […]

Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis are no strangers to the prestige of the Academy Awards. Tilbis was on the Best Animated Short Film ballot for 1991’s “Strings”. She and Forbis were nominated for 1999’s “When the Day Breaks” and 2011’s “Wild Life”. They’re in contention once again — on the 2023 Oscar shortlist for The […]

It’s Nice in Here is one of the 15 finalists for the 2023 Best Animated Short Film Oscar. This has been a passion project for director Robert-Jonathan Koeyers, who joins me for this Animation Scoop Q&A to discuss the powerful, thorough short that presents multiple sides to a complicated, heartbreaking story of two best friends […]

Elizabeth Hobbs is on the 2023 Oscars shortlist for The Debutante. It’s about a young woman who befriends a hyena. They seek to shatter the norms of behavior and societal expectations in shocking, wild ways. This is an animated short that will definitely get people talking. (This Animation Scoop interview with Hobbs was conducted as […]

New Moon is one of the 15 finalists for the 2023 Best Animated Short Film Oscar. The story is taken from “A Boy and His Soul”, a stage play by Emmy winner Colman Domingo (“Euphoria”, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”). Domingo, in such vivid and moving ways, details growing-up with his mother in Philadelphia and, specifically, […]

Lachlan Pendragon recently won a Student Academy Award for his stop-motion animation short about stop-motion animation, An Ostrich Told Me The World is Fake and I Think I Believe It. Now he’s on the 2023 Oscars shortlist as one of the 15 finalists for Best Animated Short Film honors. Pendragon, from Brisbane, Australia, made this […]

Start Your Engines! The Oscar shortlist has been unveiled — 15 animated short films vying for five spots on the Academy Awards ballot. Voting takes place in mid-January, with the nominations announcement coming Jan. 24. One of the shorts in contention is Sierra, from director Sander Joon, who’s based in Estonia. It’s the story of […]