The Best Animation Instagrams Of The Week: Oscar Shorts Contenders
On Monday, we published the longlist of animated shorts that have qualified for next year’s Oscar. We do this every year in order to draw attention to this category, which boasts an abundance of great art and storytelling, yet doesn’t get the attention to match.
Such is the nature of shorts distribution that many of these films remain hard to see outside festivals (although industry professionals can apply to watch some for free on streaming platform The Animation Showcase). Eventually, most will make their way online. In the meantime, many of their directors are active on social media, posting artwork that showcases their unique talents — and sometimes sheds light on how they made their films.
Here are five of the best Instagram profiles by filmmakers longlisted this year:
Renee Zhan burst onto the scene with her Sundance-winning short Reneepoptosis, which she followed up with the Oscar-qualified O Black Hole!, a heady existentialist short which mixes 2d and stop motion. Puppets from the film populate her Instagram alongside illustrations, animation tests and loops, and more.
Honami Yano is longlisted for an Oscar with her short A Bite of Bone, which uses a detailed pointillist technique rare in animation. She tracked the production in a series of Instagram videos, which show her hand-drawing the ornate images on a light box.
Natalie Nourigat is a comics artist who entered Disney through its shorts program; her second short, Far from the Tree, is in contention for the Oscar this year. She continues to post the odd comic on her Instagram, which also features fine figure drawings and sketches.
Nicolas Keppens is new-ish to Instagram, but he’s put his profile to good use, uploading tests and stills from his Oscar-qualified Easter Eggs. More recently, he’s posted atmospheric pencil drawings and photos of quirky installations featuring soda drinks and slugs.
Sandra Desmazières is longlisted this year for Flowing Home, which follows the fates of two Vietnamese sisters after the fall of Saigon. Her Instagram is full of exquisite sketches, many in pastel, some of which flesh out the visual world of the film.
Images at top: artwork by Nicolas Keppens (left) and Sandra Desmazières (right)