2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Two Black Boys In Paradise’ Director Baz Sells
Based on Dean Atta’s poem, this stop-motion story explores love, vulnerability, and self-acceptance across two very different worlds.
Based on Dean Atta’s poem, this stop-motion story explores love, vulnerability, and self-acceptance across two very different worlds.
Staring nature’s most popular and largest rodent, ‘Capybaras’ blends personal history, warm 2D animation, and powerful themes of empathy and collaboration.
See the full lineup of 113 animated shorts vying for the 2026 Oscars, along with voting requirements and key Academy awards dates.
Renowned animator Bill Plympton brings his signature hand-drawn style to ‘Whale 52,’ elevating this tender, magically real tale of connection.
‘Pow!’ blends three animation styles: 16-bit pixel art, hand-drawn 2D digital watercolor, and a unique sequence inspired by Plains ledger art.
Pixar, DreamWorks, Sony vet Frank Abney’s ‘Black Man, Black Man’ transforms a personal poem into a powerful visual meditation on identity and healing.
The hauntingly beautiful stop-motion short follows a poor boy who discovers a mysterious girl whose tears transform into luminous pearls.
DOK Leipzig winner ‘On Weary Wings Go By’ is a 16mm stop-motion poem about the Nordic winter, where porcelain beings wander through fading light.
The Animation Showcase spotlights 2025’s top award-contending animated shorts, now streaming for free for industry professionals worldwide.
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.
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.
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.