Oscar 2021 Best Animated Short Film: The List Of 96 Qualified Films (Exclusive)

In November, before this year’s torrent of animated shorts had settled into a proper Oscar race, we surveyed some of the films that were likely to be competing for a golden statuette. With the qualifying period now over, we can reveal that 96 short films are on the longlist.

We are publishing the list below, in alphabetical order. It has been compiled using public information and confirmed by sources within the Academy. Having compared the list to our research from previous years, we believe that 96 qualified animated shorts is an Academy record, but haven’t confirmed this.

To recap: a short can become eligible for an Oscar in one of three ways. It has to be publicly exhibited in a theater in L.A. or New York City under certain conditions, or take home an award at a designated “qualifying” festival (see the list here), or win at the Student Academy Awards. The filmmakers must then submit it to the Academy. The pandemic played havoc with the festival circuit, postponing some events and cancelling others, but this doesn’t seem to have had a significant impact on the qualifications — record or not, 96 is a high number.

Shorts are where some of the most beautiful, innovative, and distinctive animation can be found. Yet many remain inaccessible to the general public while on their festival run (even if the rise of virtual festivals last year changed that somewhat).

This Oscar category doesn’t enjoy much visibility — year after year, few outside (or even in) the industry have a clear idea of what’s in the running. As the Academy has looked at shortening its telecast, the animation short category has often been rumored to be one of the categories that it would eliminate from its live broadcast. We’re publishing the list in order to draw attention to the sheer diversity of animated short filmmaking, and to spark debate among the animation community, and hopefully beyond, about the films that should be considered for an Oscar.

Note that the information regarding how each film qualified comes from our own research; it is neither complete nor confirmed, but we will continue to update this post to ensure that the data is as complete and accurate as possible.

Here are the films that qualified in 2020:

1. Altötting
   Andreas Hykade (Germany, Canada, Portugal)
   Qualified at Cinanima
2. Am I a Wolf?
   Amir Houshang Moein (Iran)
   Qualified at Hiroshima
3. And Then the Bear
   Agnès Patron (France)
   Qualified at Aspen, Chicago, Leeds
4. The Beauty
   Pascal Schelbli (Germany)
   Qualified at the Student Academy Awards
5. Bench
   Rich Webber (U.K.)

   

6. Beyond Noh
   Patrick Smith (U.S./Japan)
7. Burrow
   Madeline Sharafian (U.S.)
   Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
8. Butterflies in Berlin — Diary of a Soul Split in Two
   Monica Manganelli (Italy)
9. Canvas
   Frank Abney (U.S.)
   Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
10. Ciervo
    Pilar Garcia-Fernandezsesma (U.S.)
    Qualified at the Student Academy Awards
11. The Coin
    Siqi Song (U.S.)
    Qualified at Chilemonos (Chile)
12. Coming Home
    Benjamin Swiczinsky (Austria)

    

13. Cops and Robbers
    Arnon Manor, Timothy Ware-Hill (U.S.)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
14. Cosmic Fling
    Jonathan Langager (U.S.)
    Qualified at Cinequest
15. Crunch
    Liukaidi Peng/GOF Animation (U.S.)
16. Dalia’s Still Here
    Nuria Menchaca (Mexico)
17. A Dark Day of Injustice
    Julio Azamor, Daniela Fiore (Argentina)
    Qualified at Chilemonos
18. Dont Know What
    Thomas Renoldner (Austria)
19. Elo
    Alexandra Ramires (Portugal/France)
20. El Pájarocubo
    Jorge Alberto Vega Rivera (Colombia)

    

21. Empty Places
    Geoffroy de Crécy (France)
22. The Fabric of You
    Josephine Lohoar Self (U.K.)
    Qualified at Palm Springs International Shortfest
23. Float
    Bobby Rubio (U.S.)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
24. 4 North A
    Jordan Canning & Howie Shia (Canada)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
25. Freeze Frame
    Soetkin Verstegen (Belgium)
    Qualified at Ann Arbor (U.S.)
26. Friends
    Florian Grolig (Germany)
27. Genius Loci
    Adrien Mérigeau (France)
    Qualified at Go Short
28. Grab My Hand: A Letter to My Dad
    Camrus Johnson, Pedro Piccinini (U.S.)
    Qualified at New York Int’l Children’s Film Festival, Chicago Int’l Children’s Film Festival
29. Grandad Was a Romantic
    Maryam Mohajer (U.K.)
    Qualified through BAFTA Awards
30. The Great Malaise
    Catherine Lepage (Canada)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
31. Hamsa
    Chrisy Baek, Daniela Dwek, Maya Mendonça (U.S.)
    Qualified at the Student Academy Awards
32. Harvest
    Sun Lijun (China)
33. Have a Nice Dog!
    Jalal Maghout (Germany/Syria)
34. Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth
    Douglas Carrigan, Philip Hunt (U.S.)
35. Homeless Home
    Alberto Vázquez (France/Spain)
    Qualified at Annecy
36. I, Barnabé
    Jean-François Lévesque (Canada)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
37. If Anything Happens I Love You
    Michael Govier and Will McCormack (U.S.)
38. Inside Me
    Maria Trigo Teixeira (Germany)
39. Just a Guy
    Shoko Hara (Germany)
    Qualified at Animafest Zagreb
40. Kapaemahu
    Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu (U.S.)
    Qualified at Animayo, Atlanta, Foyle
41. Kids
    Michael Frei (Switzerland)
    Qualified at Interfilm Berlin
42. KKUM
    Kim Kang-min (South Korea)
    Qualified at Ottawa
43. Lal
    Gökalp Gönen (Turkey)
    Qualified at Izmir International Short Film Festival
44. Little Hilly
    Yun-Sian Huang, Pei-Yu Liao (Taiwan)

    

45. The Lonely Orbit
    Benjamin Morard, Frederic Siegel (Switzerland)
    Qualified at Sitges
46. Loop
    Erica Milsom (U.S.)
    Qualified at Siggraph
47. Lost and Crowned
    Borja Peña Gorostegui (U.S.)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
48. Maggie Simpson in “Playdate with Destiny”
    David Silverman (U.S.)
49. Matches
    Géza M. Tóth (Hungary)

50. Me
    Begoña Aróstegui (Spain)
    Qualified at Alcine

    

51. Melting Heart Cake
    Benoît Chieux (France)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county

    

52. Mi Hermano Luca
    Carlos Algara, Catalina Serna (Mexico)

53. Mime Your Manners
    Kate Namowicz, Skyler Porras (U.S.)
    Qualified at the Student Academy Awards
54. Minor Accident of War
    Piotr Kabat, Diane Weis (U.S.)
55. My Galactic Twin Galaction
    Sasha Svirsky (Russia)
56. My Life in Versailles
    Nathaniel H’Limi & Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat (France)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
57. My Wish List
    Don G. R. Jayamanne (U.K.)
    Qualified through public exhibition in Atlanta
58. Naked
    Kirill Khachaturov (Russia)
59. O28
    Otalia Caussé, Geoffroy Collin, Louise Grardel, Antoine Marchand, Robin Merle, Fabien Meyran (France)
    Qualified at Hollyshorts
60. Opera
    Erick Oh (South Korea/U.S.)

    

61. Orgiastic Hyper-Plastic
    Paul Bush (Denmark, U.K.)
    Qualified at Odense
62. Out
    Steven Clay Hunter (U.S.)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
63. Petty Thing
    Li Zexi (China)
64. The Power of Hope
    Kalia Love Jones (U.S.)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county

    

65. Précieux
    Paul Mas (France)

    

66. Purpleboy
    Alexandre Siqueira (Portugal/France)
    Qualified at Anima
67. The Quiet
    Radheya Jegatheva (Australia)
68. Red Rover
    Astrid Goldsmith (U.K.)

    

69. Sh_t Happens
    Michaela Mihalyi, Dávid Štumpf (Czech Republic, Slovakia, France)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
70. The Shawl
    Sara Kiener (U.S.)

    

71. The Snail and the Whale
    Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon (U.K.)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
72. Song Sparrow
    Farzaneh Omidvarnia (Iran)
    Qualified at Lebu Int’l Film Festival
73. Sororelle
    Frederic Even, Louise Mercadier (France)
    Qualified at Warsaw
74. Spanner
    Rex Grignon

    

75. The Story of the “I’m Alone”
    Allison Wolvers (Canada)
76. Symbiosis
    Nadja Andrasev (France/Hungary)
    Qualified at SXSW
77. The Tattooed Torah
    Marc Bennett (U.S.)
78. Tiger and Ox
    Seunghee Kim (South Korea)
79. The Tiger Who Came to Tea
    Robin Shaw (U.K.)
80. A Tiger With No Stripes
    Raúl Robin Morales Reyes (France/Switzerland)
81. To Gerard
    Taylor Meacham (U.S.)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
82. To the Dusty Sea
    Héloïse Ferlay (France)
83. Toomas Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves
    Chintis Lundgren (Estonia/Croatia/France)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
84. The Torture Letters
    Laurence Ralph (U.S.)
    Qualified at Spark
85. Tot
    Tom Getty, Fiona McLaughlin, Aimee Kirkham Priester (U.K.)
86. Traces
    Hugo Frassetto, Sophie Tavert Macian (France/Belgium)
87. Umbilical
    Danski Tang (U.S./China)
88. Umbrella
    Helena Hilario, Mario Pece (Brazil)
89. Untitled
    Fan Bei Lu
90. Why Slugs Have no Legs
    Aline Höchli (Switzerland)
    Qualified at Warsaw
91. Wild Love
    Paul Autric, Quentin Camus, Léa Georges, Maryka Laudet, Zoé Sottiaux, Corentin Yvergniaux (France)
    Qualified at Nashville
92. Wind
    Edwin Chang (U.S.)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
93. Windup
    Yibing Jiang
94. World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime
    Don Hertzfeldt (U.S.)
    Qualified through public exhibition in L.A. county
95. The Wrong Rock
    Michael Cawood (U.K./U.S.)
96. Yes-People
    Gísli Darri Halldórsson (Iceland)

    

Benoit Berthe Siward contributed research to this article.

Films at top, l-to-r: “Symbiosis,” “World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime,” “Canvas,” “Altötting.”