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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.
#Oscars 2026 Shorts
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.
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.
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.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘The Wolf’ Director Theodore Ushev
Ushev’s ‘The Wolf’ is a stark, painterly short that delves into the primal tension between man and nature in a frozen, impressionistic wilderness.
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.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Capybaras’ Director Alfredo Soderguit
Staring nature’s most popular and largest rodent, ‘Capybaras’ blends personal history, warm 2D animation, and powerful themes of empathy and collaboration.
113 Animated Shorts Qualify For The 2026 Oscars — Full List And Voter Guidelines Inside
See the full lineup of 113 animated shorts vying for the 2026 Oscars, along with voting requirements and key Academy awards dates.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Whale 52’ Director Daniel Neiden (EXCLUSIVE VIDEO)
Renowned animator Bill Plympton brings his signature hand-drawn style to ‘Whale 52,’ elevating this tender, magically real tale of connection.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Pow!’ Director Joey Clift
‘Pow!’ blends three animation styles: 16-bit pixel art, hand-drawn 2D digital watercolor, and a unique sequence inspired by Plains ledger art.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Black Man, Black Man’ Director Frank Abney
Pixar, DreamWorks, Sony vet Frank Abney’s ‘Black Man, Black Man’ transforms a personal poem into a powerful visual meditation on identity and healing.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Hairy Legs’ Director Andrea Dorfman
Canadian filmmaker Andrea Dorfman’s ‘Hairy Legs’ turns a teen’s choice not to shave into a bold, artful, and very funny story of identity and self-acceptance.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘The Girl Who Cried Pearls’ Directors Chris Lavis And Maciek Szczerbowski
The hauntingly beautiful stop-motion short follows a poor boy who discovers a mysterious girl whose tears transform into luminous pearls.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘On Weary Wings Go By’ Director Anu-Laura Tuttelberg
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.
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.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Wednesdays With Gramps’ Directors Chris And Justin Copeland (EXCLUSIVE TRAILER)
‘Wednesdays with Gramps,’ is a vibrant DreamWorks short that celebrates gaming, family bonds, and finding connection across generations.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Trash’s’ Team Of ESMA Student Filmmakers
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.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Autokar’ Director Sylwia Szkiłądź
Szkiłądź’s ‘Autokar’ turns a child’s unaccompanied 1990s migration by bus from Poland to Belgium into a magical-realist journey of self-discovery.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Versa’ Director Malcon Pierce
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ artistic director Malcon Pierce channels personal tragedy into a touching, dialogue-free story of loss and recovery.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘As if Swallowed By Earth’ Director Natalia León
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.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Hurikán’ Director Jan Saska
This darkly comic black-and-white short is set in Prague, where a reckless romantic races through chaos to win his crush’s heart.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Cardboard’ Director J.P. Vine
Vine’s ‘Cardboard,’ produced by Locksmith Animation, follows a single dad and his piglet kids who turn hardship into adventure using pure imagination.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Transferable’ Directors Jacob Gardner And David Hubert
The dialogue-free short, produced by Agora Studio, explores love, sacrifice, and identity in a hauntingly familiar dystopian world.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Two Ships’ Director McKinley Benson
‘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.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘No Vacancy’ Director Miguel Rodrick
Miguel Rodrick’s neon-drenched short ‘No Vacancy’ delves into a man’s unraveling mind in a decaying motel and earns 2026 Oscar qualification.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Ovary-Acting’ Director Ida Melum
Ida Melum’s stop-motion short ‘Ovary-Acting’ blends humor and heart as a woman literally confronts her uterus while debating motherhood.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Éiru’ Director Giovanna Ferrari, Producer Nora Twomey
Cartoon Saloon’s ‘Éiru’ is a visually lush Celtic myth about courage, nature, and divine balance, brought to life with a breathtaking color palette.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Gigi’ Director Cynthia Calvi
‘Gigi’ follows a transgender woman’s poetic journey of self-discovery through metaphors of water, mermaids, and transformation.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Playing God’ Director Matteo Burani
‘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.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Retirement Plan’ Director John Kelly
John Kelly’s ‘Retirement Plan,’ narrated by Domhnall Gleeson, has qualified for the 2026 Oscars after winning several major festival awards.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Butterfly Kiss’ Director Zohar Dvir
Zohar Dvir’s ‘Butterfly Kiss’ turns fear of commitment into eerie body horror as a couple faces love, change, and metamorphosis.
2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Snow Bear’ Director Aaron Blaise
Aaron Blaise’s heartfelt, hand-drawn short ‘Snow Bear’ is a moving Arctic tale of loss, hope, and love, now qualified for the 2026 Oscars.