The Academy has announced the short list of contenders for this year’s Best Short Film – Live Action Oscar competition, and of immediate note is the fact that Jonás Cuarón’s “Aningaaq,” which Warner Bros. submitted for consideration in the category, didn’t make the cut. It would have been a first for a film with a tie to another (sure-fire) Oscar nominee – in this case “Gravity” – to land a nomination in the shorts field and a nice little entry in Academy history as a result.
The Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee viewed 120 pictures that qualified and settled on a slate of 10. From here, members of the branch will view the films at screenings held in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in December and the final list of five nominees will be announced along with the other Oscar nominees on Jan. 16, 2014.
Check out the full list below. I haven’t scoured the net this time around to see what might be available for viewing but you might turn up this and that. Feel free to offer up your thoughts on which five might make the cut.
“Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn”t Me)”
Esteban Crespo, director (Producciones Africanauan)
“Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)”
Xavier Legrand, director, and Alexandre Gavras, producer (KG Productions)
“Dva (Two)”
Mickey Nedimovic, director, and Henner Besuch, director of photography (Filoufilm Dani Barsch)
“Helium”
Anders Walter, director, and Kim Magnusson, producer (M & M Productions)
“Kush”
Shubhashish Bhutiani, director (Red Carpet Moving Pictures)
“Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)”
Selma Vilhunen, director, and Kirsikka Saari, screenwriter (Tuffi Films)
“Record/Play”
Jesse Atlas, director, and Thom Fennessey, executive producer (Collaboration Factory)
“Throat Song”
Miranda de Pencier, director (Northwood Productions)
“Tiger Boy”
Gabriele Mainetti, director (Goon Films)
“The Voorman Problem”
Mark Gill, director, and Baldwin Li, producer (Honlodge Productions)