Synopsis: A caveman tries to gain fame within his tribe thanks to an invention that can change humanity: cigarettes!
Directed by:
Axelle Chabannier
Cécilia Mérot
Clément Febvre
Enzo Pajau
Flavie Bellin
Martin Turbeaux
Mélina Safti
Paul Moulin
Music by Aloïs Benoit.
Sound by Guilhem Favard.
Voiced by Philippe Peythieu, Véronique Agereau and Antoine Périchon.
The 97th Oscars air live March 2, 2025 at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on ABC and Hulu in the United States and in more than 200 territories worldwide.
Here are the five trailers for this year’s Best Animated Short Film nominees, beginning with Beautiful Men:
Written and directed by Nicolas Keppens.
Synopsis: Three bald brothers travel to Istanbul to have a hair transplant. Stuck with each other in a hotel far from home, their insecurities grow faster than their hair.
Synopsis: A rebellious, misfit kid trying to escape the mundanity of junior high runs away into the woods, only to be whisked away into an adventure full of excitement, hand to hand combat, monkeys, and friendship.
Written, directed, and animated by James Moutsos.
Synopsis: Overly curious Mary visits her boyfriend’s flat for the first time, only to discover it’s been stripped bare of all personal belongings. After being denied explanation, she climbs into his head.
Written by Tessa Moult-Milewska and Matthew Dickie. Directed by Tessa Moult-Milewska.
Curiosa screened at festivals worldwide and won many awards, including the Austin Film Festival Jury Award for Best Animated Short and two Royal Television Society Awards (Best Postgraduate Animation, Best Sound).
Synopsis: A Vietnamese single mother in America must confront her past and cultural identity when her father’s visit stirs old memories with a traditional meal.
Directed by Mai Vu, winner of the Lights on Women Award at the Cannes Film Festival (2022).
Synopsis: Anna lives in a perfect house at the edge of a tornado. When she needs to go outside, she is forced to face the chaos of life that she usually hides away from.
The Tornado Outside was nominated for a BAFTA Student Film Award.
Directed by Maria Tomazou.
Written by Marius Scholtz.
Cinematography by Nina Oyens.
Production design by Gili Ofri.
Edited by Jack Cotter.
Produced by Solomon Golding.
Synopsis: Welcome back to the Unknown. Walk through the familiar yet mysterious mist. Feel the gentle wind beckoning through the leaves. Listen closely to the birdsongs and whispered secrets. And join Wirt, Greg and Beatrice in their quest to answer life’s biggest question… are we all lost?
Directed by Mikey Please and Dan Ojari.
Written by Patrick McHale, Dan Ojari and Mikey Please.
Animated by Aardman Animations, creators of Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep.
Synopsis: A short film commissioned by the Australian hospice care charity Palliative Care Queensland about living the end of your life on your terms.
Directed by Catherine Prowse. Created by Cocogun.
Synopsis: In order to follow his dream, Ray comes illegally aboard the Nucleus Express at the expense of Copper, a passenger who has a ticket for the trip.
Directed by Joe Azar, Sasha Grandet, Sami Haouas, Camille Lecour, Julie Marquet and Anais Mascherpa.
Synopsis: Robert and Elizabeth realize they’ve forgotten it’s their anniversary, and spend the day searching for the perfect gift to give each other. Meanwhile, a small boy on a dirt bike terrorizes Eggland, an age-restricted retirement community.
Created by Conner O’Malley, Brendan O’Hare, and Cole Kush for Adult Swim as a pilot. No word yet on whether this will become a series.
Synopsis: Seu Badú is a taxidermist with questionable taste who is madly in love with his nearsighted, absent-minded neighbor, the owner of a poor cat on the brink of starvation.
Directed by Gabriel Nóbrega. Co-Directed by Lucas René. Written by Rúbia Sproesser and Pedro Paulo de Andrade.
Written and directed by Eoin Duffy.
Regular Rabbit screened at over 60 international film festivals and was handpicked by Whoopi Goldberg for the Tribeca Film Festival. The film won top honors at the Portland and Oxford International Film Festivals and received nominations at others.
The filmmaker says, “Regular Rabbit challenges our readiness to believe absurd misinformation by deliberately separating visuals from narrative. One does not match the other. It prompts us to question our own gullibility in the face of even the most outrageous claims, i.e. a mass murdering rabbit.”
Written and directed by Oscar-nominated (Robin Robin) filmmakers Mikey Please and Dan Ojari.
Synopsis: Alan’s excited! It’s his first day at Lamin’8 — a stale, grey, humdrum lamination company. Oh boy! If he buckles up, stays focused and impresses Gary, his unhinged boss, this might just be a job for life.
But all is not quite as it seems, and when Alan accidentally unleashes cosmic, supernatural forces into the office, he realises that fitting in at Lamin’8 is going to be infinitely more tricky than he ever could have dreamed.
For Fatu, a simple visit to the grocery store feels as nerve-racking as a lunar expedition: for the first time in his life, he’s wearing makeup in public.
Written and directed by Iiti Yli-Harja.
Filmmaker SouthernShotty describes Watermelon Girl as “the story of a girl born from a watermelon seed in a departed king’s stomach…[who] discovers the true joy of giving and building community.”
Director’s statement: I love the convenience and power of digital art, but there is something magical about analogue art. So, I’ve set out to challenge myself to bring that analogue joy to a digital piece.
I spent a ton of time dissecting crafts, textures, proportions, and more to build a 3D world that felt hand built. However, I wanted to lean into the strengths of digital art and pull off scenes not possible in analogue.
I hope this blended approach to animation brings you as much joy as it was to produce.
Quick Facts:
– All visuals done by myself
– Learned 3D as I went
– 230+ shots rendered
– Around 18,000 frames rendered
– 5 years spent from initial writing to final production
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