Nom nom nom! For the seventh consecutive year, Shorts International and Magnolia Pictures present the festival of the Oscar-nominated live-action and animated short films. This feature-length program includes all of this year's nominated films, as well as several additional titles that were short-listed for this year's awards.
Dimanche/Sunday
10 min., Directed by Patrick Doyon
Every Sunday, it's the same old routine. The train clatters through the village and almost shakes the pictures off the wall. In the church, Dad dreams about his toolbox. And of course later Grandma will get a visit and the animals will meet their fate.
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
15 min., Directed by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
Inspired in equal measure by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) award winning author/illustrator William Joyce and co-director Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and MGM Technicolor musicals.
La Luna
7 min., Directed by Enrico Casaroasa
A fable of a young boy who is coming of age in the most peculiar of circumstances. Tonight is the very first time his Papa and Grandpa are taking him to work. In an old wooden boat they row far out to sea, and with no land in sight, they stop and wait. A big surprise awaits the little boy as he discovers his family's most unusual line of work.
A Morning Stroll
7 min., Directed by Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
When a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we're left to wonder which one is the real city slicker....
Wild Life
13 min., Directed by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
Calgary, 1909: an Englishman moves to the Canadian frontier, but is singularly unsuited to it. His letters home are much sunnier than the reality. Intertitles compare his fate to that of a comet.
Nullarbor
10 min., Directed by Alister Lockhart
An animated road movie set across the vast and barren landscape of Australia's Nullarbor Plain.
Amazonia
5 min., Directed by Sam Chen
In the dangerous world of the Amazon Rainforest, finding a meal proves to be an impossible task for a little tree-frog named Bounce. His luck changes when he meets Biggy, a blue-bellied treefrog who takes him under his guidance and shows him the ways of the jungle in this animated journey set to Beethoven's Symphony No.8.
Skylight
5 min., Directed by David Baas
Skylight is a mock animated documentary about the ecological plight of penguins in the Antarctic, possibly foretelling cataclysmic results for the rest of the world.
Hybrid Union
4 min., Directed by Serguei Kouchnerov
In the imaginary land of Cyberdesert, Plus and Minus struggle with a dependency on an outdated source of energy. The mysterious self-sufficient Smart presents a new challenge for Plus and Minus and forces them to form an alliance: The Hybrid Union!
Pentecost
11 min., Directed by Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
When Damian is forced to serve as an altar boy at an important mass in his local parish, he faces a difficult choice: conform to the status quo, or serve an extended ban from his life's passion--football.
Raju
24 min., Directed by Max Zahle and Stefan Gieren, In English and German
Director Max Zahle, together with his Director of Photography Sin Huh, and wonderful actors Wotan Wilke Mohring and Julia Richter, succeed at making the moral dilemma faced by couples wishing to adopt emotionally palpable.
The Shore
31 min., Directed by Terry George and Oorlagh George, In English and Gaelic
After 25 years in exile, Jim Mahon (Ciaran Hinds) returns to Ireland to show his American daughter Patty (Kerry Condon) his Belfast roots. But things don't go as planned when she learns of a secret love triangle and a long lost best friend, Paddy (Conleth Hill). Their reconciliation leads to hilarious confusion.
Time Freak
11 min., Directed by Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
A neurotic inventor creates a time machine, only to get caught up travelling around yesterday.
Tuba Atlantic
25 min., Directed by Hallvar Witzo, In Norwegian
Everybody is going to die one day, but Oskar, 70, is going to die in 6 days. He is now ready to forgive his brother for a disagreement years ago. Will he reach his brother, whom he believes live on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, before it's too late?
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
25 min., USA, Directed by Gail Dolgin and Robin Fryday
Mr. James Armstrong's barbershop in Birmingham, Alabama, has been a hub for haircuts and civil rights since 1955. 85-years-young, jauntily wearing a bowtie and suspenders, Mr. Armstrong will cut your hair while recounting his experiences as a "foot soldier," in the civil rights movement. In March 1965, activists began a march from Selma to Montgomery calling for voting rights. Mr. Armstrong, an Army veteran, was the proud bearer of the American flag in that march.
Incident in New Baghdad
25 min., USA, Directed by James Spione
One of the most notorious incidents of the Iraq War--the July 2007 slayings of two Reuters journalists and a number of other unarmed civilians by US attack helicopters--is recounted in the powerful testimony of an American infantryman whose life was profoundly changed by his experiences on the scene. US Army Specialist Ethan McCord bore witness to the devastating carnage, found and rescued two children caught in the crossfire, and soon turned against the war that he had enthusiastically joined only months before.
Saving Face
40 min., Pakistan/USA, Directed by Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy
Every year hundreds of people--mostly women--are attacked with acid in Pakistan. This HBO Documentary follows several of these survivors, their fight for justice, and a Pakistani plastic surgeon who has returned to his homeland to help them restore their faces and their lives.
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
39 min., Japan/USA, Directed by Lucy Walker
Survivors in the areas hardest hit by Japan's 2011 tsunami find the courage to revive and rebuild as cherry blossom season begins.
