Awards Watch: The Animated Shorts

In years past, it used to be near impossible to see any of the nominees in the so-called "minor categories", such as the mini-masterpieces often singled out for Best Animated Short Subject. However, with the ever-useful internet, that is now no longer the case:

• I Met the Walrus: This one, a line-drawn effort using a real audio interview with John Lennon, is the only one not available in full online. But you can see the trailer here.
• Even Pigeons Go to Heaven (Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis): A priest tries to save a wayward soul in this CGI charmer.
• Madame Tutli-Putli: This melancholy entry from the prolific National Film Board of Canada combines stop motion with CGI to alarming effect (see trailer here).
• My Love (Moya Lyubov): An oil painting come to life (achieved by actually painting on glass), this one is from director Alexander Petrov, who won in this category previously using the same painstaking method with The Old Man and the Sea (see promo clip here).
• Peter & the Wolf: Sergei Prokofiev's classic composition is reinterpreted through stop motion animation (see trailer here).

The past two years have also seen most of the animated as well as live action shorts collected on DVD from Magnolia Pictures. This year's collection (already available for pre-orderfrom Amazon.com) will be released May 6.