2025 Oscar-Nominated Shorts: Animation
For the 20th consecutive year, ShortsTV presents the Oscar-Nominated Short Films.
With all three categories offered – Animated, Live Action and Documentary – this is your annual chance to predict the winners (and have the edge in your Oscar pool)! A perennial hit with audiences around the country and the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts.
This year's "Animation" program includes:
MAGIC CANDIES
JAPAN/21 MINS/2024
Director: Daisuke Nishio
The other kids at the park never ask Dong-Dong to play. But he’s fine just playing marbles on his own. One day he goes out in search of new marbles, but ends up buying a bag of colorful, marble-shaped candies instead. But the first time he pops one of them into his mouth, he’s astonished to hear his old sofa start talking to him! For the next few minutes, until the candy melts away, he has the most unexpected and amazing conversation of his life. Realizing that these are no ordinary candies, Dong-Dong looks at the rest of colorful sweets. Who else will he be able to talk to, and what else will he learn, through these magic candies?
IN THE SHADOW OF THE CYPRESS
IRAN/20 MINS/2023
Directors: Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani
Living in a house by the sea with his daughter, a former captain who has post-traumatic stress disorder leads a tough and secluded life.
YUCK! (Beurk !)
FRANCE/13 MINS/2024
Director: Loïc Espuche
YUCK ! Adults kiss each other on the mouth, and children find it disgusting! What’s more, you can see it from afar: when people are about to kiss, their lips become all pink and shiny. Little Léo makes jokes about it, as do the other kids at the summer camp. But he has a secret he won’t tell his friends: his own mouth has actually begun glistening. And, in reality, Léo desperately wants to give kissing a try.
WANDER TO WONDER
NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM, FRANCE, UK/13 MINS/2023
Director: Nina Gantz
Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton are three tiny humans who star in a kids’ TV Series called WANDER TO WONDER. After the creator dies, they are left alone in the studio. Struggling to find enough to eat, they continue to make increasingly strange episodes for their fans.
[Note: This following films include nudity, and may not be appropriate for audiences under 14 years old.]
BEAUTIFUL MEN
BELGIUM, FRANCE, THE NETHERLANDS/18 MIN/2023
Director: Nicolas Keppens
Three balding brothers travel to Istanbul to get a hair transplant. Stuck with each other in a hotel far from home, their insecurities grow faster than their hair.
Total run time: 90 minutes
[Please note: This year's Oscar-Nominated Short Films may not be appropriate for audiences under the age of 14 due to gun violence, shootings, language, and animated nudity.]
Don't miss the Documentary program on Sunday, March 2 and the Live Action program on Saturday, February 22. The Academy Awards take place Sunday, March 2nd.
Part of our "Worth a Watch" series. Courtesy of Shorts TV.