The always well-informed Cartoonbrew website has revealed the list of 96 animated shorts eligible for the Oscars 2021. Of these, 18 are French films or French coproductions (there were 23 in 2020).
Each of the 96 shorts was pre-qualified on the basis of very specific criteria, including awards at certain international festivals. The Cartoonbrew article outlines the selection process for each of the films.
The list of the 18 eligible French films:
- To the Dusty Sea by Héloïse Ferlay (EnsAD - École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs)
- Melting Heart Cake by Benoît Chieux (Sacrebleu Productions)
- Tie by Alexandra Ramires (Providences)
- Empty Places by Geoffroy De Crécy (Autour de Minuit)
- Genius Loci by Adrien Merigeau (Kazak Productions)
- Homeless Home by Alberto Vázquez (Autour de Minuit / uniko [Spain])
- And then the Bear by Agnès Patron (Sacrebleu Productions)
- My Life in Versailles by Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat and Nathaniel H'Limi (Films Grand Huit)
- o28 by Otalia Caussé, Geoffroy Collin, Louise Grardel, Antoine Marchand, Robin Merle, and Fabien Meyran (RUBIKA - L'École des Talents de la Création Numérique)
- Precious by Paul Mas (Je Suis Bien Content)
- Purpleboy by Alexandre Siqueira (Rainbox Productions / Bando à Parte [Portugal] / Ambiances... asbl [Belgium] / Luna Blue Film [Belgium])
- Sh_t Happens by Michaela Mikalyiova and David Stumpf (Bagan Films / BFILM [Slovakia])
- Sororal by Frédéric Even and Louise Mercadier (JPL Films / Papy3D Productions)
- Symbiosis by Nadja Andrasev (Miyu Productions / Salto Film [Hungary])
- A Tiger With No Stripes by Raùl Robin Morales Reyes (Folimage / Nadasdy Film [Switzerland])
- Toomas Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves by Chintis Lundgren (Miyu Productions / Adriatic Animation [Croatia] / Chintis Lundgreni Animatsioonistuudio [Estonia])
- Traces by Hugo Frassetto (Les Films du Nord / La Boîte... Productions [Belgium])
- Wild Love by Paul Autric (École des Nouvelles Images)
A shortlist of around 10 titles will be announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in a few weeks' time, before the list of final nominations are revealed a few weeks before the awards ceremony, which will take place exceptionally this year on April 25.
It should be noted that for the Oscars 2018, two French animated shorts went all the way to the final nominations: Garden Party and Negative Space, and that for the Oscars 2020, Memorable traveled to the end of the journey.
The last French animated short film to win the Oscar was Mr Hublot, but it was a minority co-production with Luxembourg. The last 100 percent French production to win the statuette was
Logorama, in 2009.
