Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts Begin Screenings
Theatrical screenings of the 2026 Oscar-nominated animated short films are underway in San Francisco and other cities. The program features a diverse range of global production styles and includes films with mature themes. This year's Oscar nominations also generated discussion around high-profile snubs and surprises, reflecting the unpredictable nature of the animation industry.
- The five nominated films are "Butterfly" (France), "Forevergreen" (USA), "The Girl Who Cried Pearls" (Canada), "Retirement Plan" (Ireland), and "The Three Sisters" (Israel, Cyprus). - A variety of animation techniques are showcased, including the oil, pastels, and sand on glass used in "Butterfly," and the stop-motion animation featured in "The Girl Who Cried Pearls." - The runtimes for the shorts are relatively brief, with "Retirement Plan" being the shortest at 7 minutes and "The Girl Who Cried Pearls" the longest at 17 minutes. - "Butterfly" tells the true story of Alfred Nakache, a Jewish Olympic swimmer who survived Auschwitz. - Domhnall Gleeson voices the lead character in the Irish film "Retirement Plan," about a man daydreaming of his post-work life. - While 113 shorts were submitted for consideration, notable absences from major studios included "The Bad Guys: Little Lies and Alibis" from DreamWorks and the SpongeBob short "Order Up" from Paramount. - "The Three Sisters," by director Konstantin Bronzit, is a dialogue-free film about three sisters living on a remote island whose lives are disrupted by the arrival of a sailor. - From the Oscar-nominated creators of "Madame Tutli-Putli," "The Girl Who Cried Pearls" is a stop-motion parable about a boy who falls for a girl whose tears turn into pearls, forcing him to choose between love and money.
