OSCAR SHORTS:
ANIMATION 2026
(83 min)
THE THREE SISTERS | Dir. Konstantin
Bronzit | Israel, Cyprus | 14min
Three sisters live a lonely life on an isolated island, each in their own small
house. One day, circumstances develop in such a way that they are forced to
rent out one of the houses.
FOREVERGREEN | Dir. Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears | United States | 13min
A joyful adventure featuring an orphaned bear cub and a fatherly tree turns
serious when the cub is tempted by the allure of easy food. Fire and deadly
danger ensue as the cub is left bereft of hope and on the verge of a ruinous
end, until the sacrificial love of the tree falls into place.
THE GIRL WHO CRIED PEARLS | Dir. Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski | Canada |
17min
In Montreal, at the dawn of the 20th century, a poor boy falls in love with a
girl whose sorrow turns into pearls. He sells them to a ruthless pawnbroker,
who hungers for more. Tempted by greed, the boy must choose between love and
fortune. The choice could damn his soul. From the Oscar-nominated team of Chris
Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (Madame Tutli-Putli), this meticulously
crafted film is a testament to the magic of stop-motion animation. With
handmade puppets, mesmerizing narration by Colm Feore and a haunting score by
Patrick Watson, The Girl Who Cried Pearls is a timeless parable of
desire, deception and the price of innocence.
BUTTERFLY | Dir. Florence Miailhe | France | 15min
A poignant retelling of Olympic swimmer Alfred Nakache's life, from his rise to
fame to surviving Auschwitz, presented as memories flashing back during his
final swim.
RETIREMENT PLAN | Dir. John Kelly | Ireland | 7min
Ray (Domhnall Gleeson) lays out a beautiful life for himself in his retirement
plan. He will pursue his curiosities, challenge his limiting beliefs, embrace
fear, beauty, even the complexities of wine culture. Ray will check off every
box on every list for every interest he ever even half-thought about. He will
discover what he loves (Italian red wine), what he hates (camping). He will
grow and learn and change rapidly. It’s beautiful and it’s messy and achingly
relatable. But Ray is forgetting something. The one thing he treats as
flippantly disposable will be the single most rapidly depleting resource of his
future self. His healthy-ish, agile enough 40-something-year-old body. Also,
actual retirement time is not endless, but guaranteed to be finite.
ÉIRU **Shortlisted Extra Short** | Dir. Giovanna Ferrari | Ireland |
13min
When the water mysteriously disappears from the well in a warrior clan’s
village, an intrepid child descends into the belly of the earth to retrieve it.
Éiru is the story of a child in search of a challenge, and a goddess in
search of a champion.
