The César Awards, France’s highest film honor, have announced the shortlist of 12 French films that are in contention for its 2019 award for best animated short.

It’s an unusually competitive year with lots of high-profile films in contention including the BAFTA-winning Roughhouse (which was a French co-production), Clermont-Ferrand grand prize winner This Magnificent Cake!, Annecy Cristal winner Mémorable, and other festival favorites like Egg, Guaxama, The Night of the Plastic Bags, and I’m Going Out for Cigarettes (pictured at top).

The selections were made by the 20 members of the animation committee of France’s Academy of Cinema Arts and Technique. From this list, four nominees will be announced on Wednesday, January 29, 2020.

Before that announcement, the 12 shorts will be made available on a dvd that each voting member of the Academy will receive in mid-December. Academy voters will also be able to view the films at a theatrical screening on Saturday, December 7, in Paris.

Here is the list of shortlisted films and their trailers:

  • Bavure
    Directed by Donato Sansone
    Play
  • Ce magnifique gâteau! (This Magnificent Cake!)
    Directed by Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels
    Read earlier coverage of the film on Cartoon Brew
    Play
  • Egg
    Directed by Martina Scarpelli
    Read earlier coverage of the film on Cartoon Brew
    Play
  • Flow
    Directed by Adriaan Lokman
    Play
  • Guaxuma
    Directed by Nara Normande
    Play
  • Je sors acheter des cigarettes (I’m Going Out for Cigarettes)
    Directed by Osman Cerfon
    Play
  • La Nuit des sacs plastiques (The Night of the Plastic Bags)
    Directed by Gabriel Harel
    Play
  • Make It Soul
    Directed by Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo
    Play
  • Mémorable
    Directed by Bruno Collet
    Play
  • Mon Juke-Box
    Directed by Florentine Grelier
    Play
  • Riviera
    Directed by Jonas Schloesing
    Play
  • Roughhouse
    Directed by Jonathan Hodgson
    Read earlier coverage of the film on Cartoon Brew
    Play

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