Disappointed in the Academy’s predictable Oscar nominations this year? Between Feb. 11 to 13, Cornell Cinema will view the relatively obscure animated and live action shorts given nods this year.  To anyone expecting animated shorts geared toward child audiences, be warned that most of these focus on pensive, even macabre themes with stark visuals. The live action category, this year taken over by Europeans, also favors poignancy over comedy.

Best Animated Short Film

Dimanche / Sunday: Dimanche is eccentric and hand-drawn, with a limited color palate that gives the film a nostalgic aura. Inspired by European comics, untidy scribbles add to the quirkiness of the film. The story, based on Canadian animator Patrick Doyon’s own childhood, follows a small boy on a regular Sunday afternoon as his parents force him to accompany to church. Doyon captures the child’s imagination as only a masterfully observant cartoonist can while incorporating a melancholic sense of humor.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore: More or less drawing from the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, Joyce and Oldenbug’s film begins with Morris Lessmore writing a book on his balcony as a storm rolls in and destroys all, à la The Wizard of Oz. After losing everything, Mr. Lessmore is transported to a world of fluttering novels, alphabet cereal and a piano-playing Humpty Dumpty. There is no dialogue, although an alluring musical variation of “Pop Goes the Weasel” accompanies his journey. With an overwhelmingly positive message on the transcendence of books, there is no wonder this short is a favorite among critics. 

La Luna: While this is the first nomination for animator Enrico Casarosa, Pixar is no stranger to the Oscars. This short, poetic film follows a boy as he accompanies his father and grandfather on their unique night job. Involving a wooden boat, a ladder and dazzling stars, the film takes its major influence from the Italian short story The Distance of the Moon, in which the characters climb up to the moon. Perhaps the predictably adorable La Luna will break Pixar’s losing streak in this category.

A Morning Stroll: This three-act story by Brits Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe explores the age-old question: Why did the chicken cross the road? The first lighthearted, black-and-white segment beginning in 1959 does nothing to prepare us for later encounters with absent-minded break-dancers and mindless zombies. The mix of computer-generated and hand-drawn animations gives a different, erratic character to each polar opposite fragment.  

Wild Life: Although comic in tone, Wild Life is quite personal for Canadian animators Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, whose grandparents came from England to start a life in Calgary in the 1900s. The story follows the hardships of one young Englishman who, much to his father’s dismay, “fancies himself a cowboy,” and gives up his comfortable life in the U.K. The film compares the brief flight and crash of a comet to his naïve attempt at ranch life in Alberta, which fizzles miserably. 

Best Live Action Short Film

Pentecost: Irishmen Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane developed this film from the scene of a priest delivering a pep talk to a group of altar boys before mass, much like a coach would before a championship soccer game (“Go out there and have the mass of your lives!”). Fusing the worlds of athletics and faith, the film mocks the traditional plight of Irish-Catholic altar server Damien Lynch. The hilarity that ensues makes this one of the top contenders in the live action category.

Raju: German film students Max Zahle and Stefan Gieren present a story set in India, where a German couple adopts a young boy, Raju, from an orphanage. What starts off as a heartwarming venture soon becomes a nightmare when the child is lost in the streets. The dilemma is exacerbated when one learns more about Raju’s history in Calcutta. Quite somber issues are explored, centered on the morality of adoption and the social discrepancies between Western and more destitute Eastern countries.

The Shore: The second Irish short nominated in this category, The Shore is the third Oscar nomination for director Terry George, who also helmed Hotel Rwanda. A tediously slow moving “time-heals-all” story, the touching film centers on an Irishman who returns to small-town Belfast with his American daughter after 25 years. Lies are discovered and secrets are divulged between flashes of the lush scenery of Northern Ireland.

Time Freak: Time Freak, the only American live action film nominee, could well be half of an episode of The Big Bang Theory. Essentially, the story line is what would occur if your goofy college roommate invented a time machine. Instead of traveling to the Roaring Twenties, the scientist always returns to the previous day to rectify petty social blunders. Sadly, the frivolity of the film makes it an unlikely candidate for Oscar gold.

Tuba Atlantic: Hallvar Witzø, another student nominee, directs the thickly Scandinavian story of a cranky old man, Oskar, who finds out he has six days to live. Inger, a teenage charity worker, comes to his door with the intention of being his “Angel of Death,” and an unlikely, affecting friendship results. Elements of dark comedy, much of which involves dead seagulls, accompany Oskar’s journey to reconnect with his estranged brother (via a very large tuba).