Oscar Shortlists: Iran And Mexico Contend For 1st Time In Animated Shorts; ‘Boy And The Heron’ Considered For Score; ‘Spider-Verse’ Shortlisted For VFX

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the shortlists in 10 different categories, including animated short film and visual effects. Animated films have also been shortlisted in the music categories for original score and original song.

The animated short film category has a 15-film shortlist, with the following films remaining in contention:

• Boom – France
• Eeva – Estonia/Croatia
• Humo (Smoke) – Mexico
• I’m Hip – United States
• A Kind of Testament – France
• Koerkorter (Dog Apartment) – Estonia
• Letter to a Pig – Israel/France
• Ninety-Five Senses – United States
• Once upon a Studio – United States
• Our Uniform – Iran
• Pachyderme – France
• Pete – United States
• 27 – France/Hungary
• War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko – United States
• Wild Summon – U.K.

Ninety-three films qualified in the category. The shortlisted films come from nine different countries, led by the United States (6) and France (5). Other countries with films on the shortlist are Estonia (2), Israel, Croatia, Mexico, Hungary, Iran, and United Kingdom. (Some films are co-productions, with multiple countries involved.)

Notably, it is the first time that films from Iran (Yegane Moghaddam’s Our Uniform) and Mexico (Rita Basulto’s Humo) have made it to the shortlist round of the animated short Academy Award. Moghaddam and Basulto’s films are also among nine films that were directed by at least one woman filmmaker.

Only two of the shortlisted fillmmakers have previously been nominated for an Academy Award: John Musker, who has been nominated twice in the animated feature category, and Dave Mullins, who earned his nom for Pixar’s Lou short.

Ten of the films qualified by winning an Oscar-qualifying festival honor, while five of the films qualified through the exhibition route. Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation branch vote to determine both the shortlist and the nominees.

On the visual effects side, ten films have been shortlisted for the Academy Award. Notably, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is in contention for a visual effects Oscar. It is not the first time that an animated film has appeared on this list – for example, Laika’s Kubo and the Two Strings was shortlisted – but it’s certainly uncommon for animated films to receive consideration in the category.

The Visual Effects Branch executive committee determined the shortlist. All members of the Visual Effects branch will be invited to view excerpts and interviews with the artists from each of the shortlisted films on Saturday, January 13, 2024. Branch members will vote on the nominees.

• The Creator
• Godzilla Minus One
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
• Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
• Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
• Napoleon
• Poor Things
• Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire
• Society of the Snow
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

In the Music – Original Score category, three animated features are among the fifteen shortlisted scores: The Boy and the Heron, Elemental, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Additionally, in the Music – Original Song category, “Am I Dreaming” from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has been shortlisted.

Voting on the final Oscar nominees runs from January 11-16, 2024, with the nominees announced on Tuesday, January 23. The winners will be announced on Sunday, March 10, 2024.