2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘The Night Boots’ Director Pierre-Luc Granjon
Annecy Cristal winner ‘The Night Boots’ features expressive monochromatic pinscreen animation that makes it one of the year’s most unforgettable shorts.
Annecy Cristal winner ‘The Night Boots’ features expressive monochromatic pinscreen animation that makes it one of the year’s most unforgettable shorts.
‘Wednesdays with Gramps,’ is a vibrant DreamWorks short that celebrates gaming, family bonds, and finding connection across generations.
ESMA’s sharp CG short ‘Trash’ follows a rat and pigeon through a decaying city, blending dystopian tension with striking artistry and sometimes hopeful beauty.
A nursing home resident finds himself suddenly transforming into a bird. Although he is still accepted, he feels it may be time to join a new flock.
Szkiłądź’s ‘Autokar’ turns a child’s unaccompanied 1990s migration by bus from Poland to Belgium into a magical-realist journey of self-discovery.
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ artistic director Malcon Pierce channels personal tragedy into a touching, dialogue-free story of loss and recovery.
This haunting 2D short sees its protagonist return to her childhood home in Mexico, where she unearths buried memories and the lingering ghosts of violence and loss.
Juries at the L.A.-based Annecy counterpart also acknowledged Alberto Vazquez’s ‘Decorado’ and Giovanni Ferrari’s ‘Éiru.’ The Audience favored ‘Arco.’
This darkly comic black-and-white short is set in Prague, where a reckless romantic races through chaos to win his crush’s heart.
Vine’s ‘Cardboard,’ produced by Locksmith Animation, follows a single dad and his piglet kids who turn hardship into adventure using pure imagination.
The dialogue-free short, produced by Agora Studio, explores love, sacrifice, and identity in a hauntingly familiar dystopian world.
‘Two Ships’ is a hand-drawn short that explores distance and connection as experienced by a couple occupying the same space, but with opposing schedules.
Miguel Rodrick’s neon-drenched short ‘No Vacancy’ delves into a man’s unraveling mind in a decaying motel and earns 2026 Oscar qualification.
Ida Melum’s stop-motion short ‘Ovary-Acting’ blends humor and heart as a woman literally confronts her uterus while debating motherhood.
Cartoon Saloon’s ‘Éiru’ is a visually lush Celtic myth about courage, nature, and divine balance, brought to life with a breathtaking color palette.
From anime upstarts to international indies and the absence of stop-motion, the 2026 Animated Feature race looks anything but predictable.
‘Gigi’ follows a transgender woman’s poetic journey of self-discovery through metaphors of water, mermaids, and transformation.
VES Honors Celebration 2025 will also celebrate Bob Coleman, Dennis Hoffman, Colin Campbell, Darin Grant, Gayle Munro, and new Hall of Fame inductees.
‘Playing God,’ a skin-crawling stop-motion short where abandoned clay figures fight for identity and belonging, earned qualification by winning the grand jury award at Animayo.
John Kelly’s ‘Retirement Plan,’ narrated by Domhnall Gleeson, has qualified for the 2026 Oscars after winning several major festival awards.