Best Animated Short - 2025: The Shortlist

I'm going to be completely honest, for the past several years every time the Oscars wrap up and I write the post looking back at the winner, I don't think about the upcoming Best Animated Short category until the shortlist drops. It's not like in the early days of this blog when I made a post about all of the qualifying films. So even when outlets like Cartoon Brew are profiling as many of the films that have earned qualification status, I don't really pay attention and rigorously look up the films, at least not until the shortlist drops and I'll only have 15 films to write about, instead of the 113 that Cartoon Brew reported had qualified.

And of course for the past several years the shortlist just happened to drop right before I have to make the drive from Texas to Virginia where I would be spending the holidays with my family. And I don't have time to make this post until after I arrive, which is usually a day or two after the shortlist is announced. And so by the time I make this post, there are other outlets that preview the shortlisted films much better than I ever could, such as Animation Magazine. But this is the Best Animated Short blog darn it so I'm going to write about these films anyways.

Anyways, because I don't go to film festivals to watch animated short, nor do I work in the animation industry so I don't feel that I would qualify for the Animation Showcase that has most of these films on streaming. This means the only way I have to watch these films in full is if I can find them online, or if I can go to one of the screenings of nominees when they happen. Right now there appears to be four that are on YouTube, and one more that is available Vimeo on Demand. I don't feel like paying for the Vimeo on Demand film yet, so that means there are four I've seen. In the following profiles I'll keep from writing my full thoughts on the four I've seen, saving them for a full review if they are nominated.

Anyways, this intro has gone on for long enough, so here we go, the 15 shortlisted films:

Best Animated Short - 2024: The Shortlist

It's that time of year again, huh? The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the shortlist for selected categories on December 17, and we have a new list of 15 titles that still have a chance to receive the coveted honor of being named the Best Animated Short of the year at the Oscars. Normally I'd write about these shortlisted films as soon as possible after the shortlist's release, but for the third straight year I had to do some traveling after the shortlist's reveal, and didn't have time to put in the research necessary to write about the films because once again I didn't pay attention to any festivals or anything so I knew very little about the titles. Two years ago I neglected to even write about the shortlist but I figure nowadays I ignore this blog in between awards season so I figure I should write something.

According to the press release there were 88 films that achieved eligibility through festivals or theatrical releases. I don't think the Academy released the full list of films that have been eligible although sites like Cartoon Brew has certainly tried to compile lists of potential competitors, and some lists of eligible films have been leaked. As such, I have no idea what are considered snubs. But taking a look at these titles it does appear that the Academy has continued their recent habit of avoiding populist titles such as Once Upon a Studio last year. But what did make the cut, in the fourth straight year that the Academy has expanded the shortlist to 15? I'm not going to do an in-depth analysis of each of these films because the majority of them are only available as trailers but I do hope I will write enough for a basic understanding of what each film is like.

Best Animated Short - 2021: The Shortlist

It's that time of year. Earlier today the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the shortlist of 10 different Oscar categories, including Best Documentary Feature, Best International Film, and our favorite category Best Animated Short. This means it's the time of year where I drag myself out of hibernation and take a look at the films that could join classics like A Greek Tragedy and Magoo's Puddle Jumper in the annals of films to win Best Animated Short. 

One big change for this year's race is the fact that 15 films are on the shortlist as opposed to ten in previous shortlists. I think this is a pretty good change, as it provides a larger list of films to explore (since nobody actually cares about all of the qualifying films, of which there were reportedly 84 this year). Plus, it seems like a tighter race with one of three films getting a nomination instead of just one of two.

Anyways, unfortunately I haven't really paid attention to any of the short films this year, so my knowledge on these 15 finalists are fairly limited, so let's explore them together!

Best Animated Short - 2020 Shortlist

I swear I'm not dead. I will confess that I haven't updated this page since Hair Love won the Academy Awards literally over a year ago. I've had some ideas for posts (such as counting down my favorite Studio Ghibli films), but with moving and getting a new job that is much busier than my old one and getting into Animal Crossing New Horizons, I haven't had much motivation to do much writing. I guess that is why I will never be much of an animation blogger. 

But now is no longer the time for procrastination. The global coronavirus pandemic has pushed the Academy Awards back by two full months, but the Academy has continued their recent tradition of releasing shortlists of finalists for certain categories, including Best Animated Short. The release of the shortlist is two months later than usual, but like years past I will introduce each of the ten shortlisted films, stopping short of a full review.

As with most years, the shortlist has a combination of big studio films and independent films, both American and foreign. The biggest difference is that with most theaters closed due to the coronavirus, many of the films have been more accessible through streaming services, which certainly helps.

Best Animated Short 2019 - The Shortlist

Well, it's been a while since I posted. I haven't posted anything since Richard Williams's passing back in August. I didn't even post when Cartoon Brew posted the list of films that they know have qualified for the Oscar. I know I had posted about the longlist in the past, but it took forever to put together, and it really didn't present anything new. And besides, how can I top Alex Dudok de Wit, the son of Oscar winner Michael Dudok de Wit? I suppose I could have made a post where I linked to that page and said "Hey, Cartoon Brew had published a list of films they knew had qualified for the Oscar," but I didn't.

Anyways, the Academy has long announced the shortlist of films that will be progressing for further consideration for the Academy Award nomination. They had previously made the list known late in November, but recently they have waited until mid-December to announce the shortlist for multiple categories, including Best Animated Short. This year's Shortlist Day happened to fall on Monday, December 16. Alas, I was away from my computer all day so I could not make this post to preview the ten films. So the post will go up a day late. Obviously Cartoon Brew had already made a post and given their two cents, but I suppose I will do the same.

Best Animated Short 2018 - The Shortlist

Back in September, Cartoon Brew posted a list of films that had qualified for the Best Animated Short Oscar, either through winning festivals or Student Academy Awards or through public exhibition. Rather than post the entire list which is what Cartoon Brew already did, I eulogized Will Vinton instead. I decided to wait until the shortlist was announced before writing about them. Traditionally the shortlist had been announced at the end of November, but that day came and went with no announcement. Last year the announcement was announced on December 4, but that day came and went. I waited and waited and kept trying to find as many of the qualifying films as possible. At last, the Academy dropped the shortlist for nine different categories, including Best Animated Short. We finally have a list of the films that would be competing for the Best Animated Short Oscar!

Best Animated Short 2017 - The Shortlist

Yes, I am still alive. I will admit I've kind of fallen behind on the animation scene. When Cartoon Brew reported on the qualifying films this year I didn't feel like writing a post about all 63 of them. And Jerry Beck has been writing excellent articles about the films that qualified for the Academy Awards but were not nominated from 1947-1975, but I haven't written about them. Part of it may be related to the fact my computer has gotten agonizingly slow, but part of it may be because I've had my attention elsewhere, such as baseball. Still, I figured I'll write about the shortlist once it's been revealed. However, Thanksgiving came and went and there was still no sign of a shortlist. I was beginning to think that they wouldn't even announce a shortlist this year and I'll be REALLY out of the loop, but loyal reader Sean Ramsdell reported to me that the shortlist is FINALLY out. So I'll take this opportunity to give my quick thoughts about each of them, just like I have in the past few years.

Best Animated Short 2016 - The Shortlist

Well, it took a while but the Academy has finally announced the ten films moving on among the 70 that qualified, some of which I profiled a few weeks ago. Yes, I know that I'm five days late. No, I don't have any valid excuses. And no, I don't think anybody cares because I doubt anybody is still reading this blog, and I'm just doing this because I like to waste my time and am doing this for completionist's sake. Don't think I'm giving up on the category. I'm still doing all that I can to watch these films in my limited can't-go-to-festivals capacity. In fact I've seen three of the shortlisted films on the day of the announcement. That still leaves five films that I have yet to see. Watch those five get nominations. Anyways, surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly as unlike me, Amid Amidi knows what he's talking about), all of the films were featured in the profile. So maybe this may go quicker as my views may not change for films I haven't seen.