One of the fifteen 2024 Best Animated Short Film Oscars finalists is Eeva, from directors Lucija Mrzljak and Morten Tsinakov. A rainy funeral. A restaurant. Woodpeckers. And you should expect the unexpected. Tsinakov shared these answers to my Eeva questions, on behalf of himself and Mrzljak, for this Animation Scoop Interview. (This was edited for length and clarity.)

Q: How did you want to show the experience of a funeral?

A: Well, the funeral itself is just an introduction to the story and maybe not even that important. What we were mostly interested in was the behavior of Eeva and the people around her. The intentions of those around her are difficult to read – they seem to be good but maybe not quite genuine.

Director Stephen Vuillemin’s A Kind of Testament is on the 96th Annual Oscars Best Animated Short Film shortlist. One day, a woman discovers online that someone has taken some of her social media posts and turned them into animated video clips. It gets wilder from there. Vuillemin takes me through the thought process behind it all in this Animation Scoop Q&A. (This email interview was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: This is a very specific and intense story. Where did the inspiration come from?

Stephen Vuillemin: I started making the film when I was 30. I was trying to give my life some meaning: I almost stopped going out, and instead, I was making the film, alone. I did that for five years by myself, and then with Remembers, a very cool animation studio in Paris, for one more year, until the movie was finished. So I guess the story is pretty much a reflection of that process: it’s about someone who “sacrifices” their time to make animation, and it questions whether or not it’s a good idea. I was also interested in confronting fiction and reality. In the movie, there are two characters, who both produce images. One is a younger woman, who shoots selfies, and one is an older woman who makes animations. Most people tend to consider photos (especially this genre of photos) as a representation of reality, and animation as fiction, but in the film, it’s not that clear. The story about the woman making the animations is made up, but since the animations exist (and you’re watching them), at least the part about “someone spent a lot of time making these animations” has to be real.

Director Yegane Moghaddam’s Annecy-winning Our Uniform is now one of the 15 finalists for the 2024 Best Animated Short Film Academy Award. It’s about an Iranian girl who recalls her school days and, specifically, what she had to wear. Clothing is a major component of the story and the unique look of Our Uniform, as Moghaddam describes in this Animation Scoop Q&A. (This Email Interview was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: What inspired you to choose this topic for your film?

Yegane Moghaddam: The inspiration came from my lived experience. When you live in a country like Iran, you don’t have to think too hard to find ideas. The ideas will find you! We are surrounded by ideas. Every morning when you wake up, there’s a new headline and thus a new story. And of course the topic of Hijab has always been a hot topic in Iran, especially in the very recent years.

One of the 15 selections on this year’s Best Animated Short Film Oscars shortlist is Wild Summon, a fascinating *tail* of the life cycle of salmon, shown to us in human form. It’s an instantly captivating live-action / animation hybrid that screened at Cannes in May to rave reviews. The directing duo Karni & Saul provides insight on this bold creation in this Animation Scoop Email Q&A. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: This is a fascinating saga we go on, presented in a compelling way. What were your goals with approaching this story?

K&S: The concept of Wild Summon is a sort of magic moment of inspiration. Representing an animal in a human form is the opposite of what animation usually does, which is to make animals with human characteristics animals that behave like humans. The goal was two-sided. On the one hand, to create empathy and engagement with an eco film, by giving a creature which is entirely different from us a human form. We tend to care more for things that look like us. In doing so, we hope to reconnect the audience with the natural world in fresh and groundbreaking ways — breaking the boundaries of natural history docs and fantasy. On the other hand, we wanted to remark on something wholly human. The images the film explores touch on social and political issues. Mass Immigration, refugees, war, violence against women, survival, the journey to home and so on. Lastly, the film is a sort of homage to motherhood. Carrying the heavier weight of creating the next generation, and in this fish’s case, giving her life in doing so. It’s looking at how we treat nature and each other, which seem to be intertwined, more than we imagine.

Jared and Jerusha Hess, the duo behind Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, present their first-ever animated short film. The excellent Ninety-Five Senses stars Tim Blake Nelson as the voice of Coy, a man reflecting on all facets of his life and body. The Hesses give me a taste of how this short came to be in this Animation Scoop Q&A. (This was conducted as an email interview and was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: How did you decide on the order of presenting the five senses in how you wanted to tell this story?

Jared & Jerusha Hess: The team gave a lot of thought to which sense was the best showcase for a given anecdote or vignette. The story really dictated it. The sight section shows how out of touch our main character (Coy) is with the modern world – all his griping about cell phones – but it also piques the viewer’s curiosity: “How is it that this adult man has never owned a cell phone? What’s his situation?” Smell is the sense most closely tied to memory, so we use that to begin his journey into the past. Hearing leads into the big reveal of the film: Coy’s hearing loss was responsible for an event that would prove to be his life’s great tragedy. Once we’re fully aware of his predicament – and his fate – it makes sense to talk about his last meal, and that’s where we get taste. Touch is what triggers Coy’s fantasy, and that’s how the film ends, with a vision of what his life could have been.

Santiago Carrasquilla and Jos Diaz Contreras are the directors of the visionary new animated short film Awakening: The First Day. It’s a cool, gripping look at the planet. The talented duo shares how this presentation has gone from stage to screen. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was conducted as an Email Interview and was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: What were your goals with how you wanted to create depth?

Jos Diaz Contreras: The story came from a very personal place, speaking to themes of self-discovery and reconciliation. Visually, thinking always about light, the way that nature and the elements shape it and reveal it in so many different ways.