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Our Annual Look At The Year’s Oscar-Qualified Animated Shorts: 39 Profiles
With shortlist voting starting today, we’re revisiting all 39 Oscar-qualified animated short profiles we put together this year.
Awards
‘Demons Slayer: Infinity Castle’ Scores Shock Golden Globe Animated Feature Nomination; ‘KPop Demon Hunters,’ ‘Zootopia 2’ Notch Double Nods
A surprise nomination for ‘Demon Slayer’ reshapes the awards season animation race as lead horses ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ and ‘Zootopia 2’ strengthen momentum.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘The Quinta’s Ghost’ Director James A. Castillo
Castillo discusses the film’s horror roots, innovative technological pipeline, and adapting the aesthetic of Francisco de Goya’s Black Paintings in animation.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Butterfly’ Director Florence Miailhe
Miailhe’s painted animation brings Alfred Nakache’s memories to life, charting a swimmer’s resilience through beauty, trauma, and water.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Jesus 2’ Director Jesse Moynihan
Cartoon Network vet Moynihan delivers a surreal tale of rebirth and existential dread, blending sacred imagery with lo-fi aesthetics.N
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Forevergreen’ Directors Nathan Engelhardt And Jeremy Spears (EXCLUSIVE BTS)
The gorgeous CG short follows an orphaned bear cub taken in by a paternal tree, before a hunger for human leftovers leads to disaster.
‘Arco’ Named Best Animated Feature Of 2025 By National Board Of Review
Ugo Bienvenu’s debut blends sci-fi spectacle and colorful animation in a story about a young girl who must help a time traveler return to his utopian future.
‘Endless Cookie,’ ‘Boys Go To Jupiter, ‘Common Side Effects’ Score Independent Spirit Awards Nominations
Categories for best documentary, best feature made for under $1 million, and best new series picked animated titles to compete alongside live-action fare.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Póg Mo Pigeon’ Director Clíodhna Lyons (EXCLUSIVE BTS)
Featuring 2D, storybook animation, ‘Póg mo Pigeon’ is the distinctly Irish tale of Mikey, a boy growing up in a strict Catholic household.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Luz Diabla’ Directors Gervasio Canda, Patricio Plaza, And Paula Boffo
‘Luz Diabla’ is a folk-horror story from the team behind 2022 standout ‘Carne de Dios,’ blending queer rave culture with Argentine myth and neon 2D animation.
‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Picks Up Awards Season Momentum With NYFCC Animated Feature Win
The oldest film critics organization in the U.S., NYFCC is a strong bellwether for Academy nominations and picks the eventual winner about half the time.
Oscar VFX Race Narrows To 20 Films
The Oscars reveal 20 VFX finalists, including big franchise entries like ‘Avatar,’ ‘Superman,’ ‘Wicked,’ ‘Predator,’ ‘Frankenstein,’ and ‘Jurassic World.’
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘I Died In Irpin’ Director Anastasiia Falileieva
Ukrainian director Anastasiia Falileieva discusses ‘I Died in Irpin,’ her autobiographical documentary short on war, trauma, and resilience.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Cafuné’ Directors Carlos F. De Vigo And Lorena Ares (EXCLUSIVE BTS)
‘Cafuné’ examines Europe’s immigration crisis through a child’s eyes, tracing the echoing trauma of her perilous Mediterranean crossing.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Il Burattino E La Balena’ Director Roberto Catani
The haunting Ottawa-winning short explores identity, autonomy, and the human world through the eyes of a puppet who, unlike Pinocchio, rejects transformation.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Inkwo For When The Starving Return’ Director Amanda Strong
Strong’s haunting stop-motion short unspools in the near future, where the fate of the world rests on Dove, a mysterious warrior who can shift gender.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘My Brother, My Brother’ Director Abdelrahman Dnewar
Abdel Dnewar’s hybrid-animated short examines twinhood, subjective memory, and loss, honoring the life and artistry of his late brother and co-director, Saad.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘A Sparrow’s Song’ Director Tobias Eckerlin
An elderly widow in WWII London finds healing through an unlikely bond with a sparrow, whose song brings hope to children sheltering from the bombs.
35 Animated Features Qualify For The 98th Academy Awards
The Academy has unveiled the 35 animated features eligible for the 98th Oscars, with some still needing qualifying releases to advance in voting.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Voyage Of The Red Rabbit’ Director Sam Gualtieri
The SCAD thesis short blends real family recordings with a rabbit’s cosmic journey, brought to life through Maurice Noble–inspired animation.