Each year the Vancity Theatre is proud to present the nominees for the Academy Award for Best Short Film in the Live Action and Animation categories. Between January 29th and February 27th, there are plenty of chances to catch them!

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Sanjay’s Super Team – dir. Sanjay Patel, USA, 7 minutes
In Sanjay’s Super Team, the new short film from Pixar Animation Studios, accomplished artist Sanjay Patel uses his own experience to tell the story of a young, first-generation Indian-American boy whose love for western pop-culture comes into conflict with his father’s traditions. Sanjay is absorbed in the world of cartoons and comics, while his father tries to draw him into the traditions of his Hindu practice. Tedium and reluctance quickly turn into an awe-inspiring adventure as the boy embarks on a journey he never imagined, returning with a new perspective that they can both embrace.

World of Tomorrow – dir. Don Hertzfeldt, USA, 17 minutes
A little girl named Emily is taken on a fantastical tour of her distant future by a surprising visitor who reveals unnerving secrets about humanity’s fate.

Bear Story – dir. Gabriel Osorio, Chile, 11 minutes
Every day, a melancholy old bear takes a mechanical diorama that he has created out to his street corner. For a coin, passersby can look into the peephole of his invention, which tells the story of a circus bear who longs to escape and return to the family from which he was taken.

We Can’t Live Without Cosmos – dir. Konstantin Bronzit, Russia, 16 minutes
Two best friends have dreamed since childhood of becoming cosmonauts, and together they endure the rigors of training and public scrutiny, and make the sacrifices necessary to achieve their shared goal.

Prologue – dir. Richard Williams, UK, 6 minutes
Clocking in at six minutes, Prologue describes an incident in the Spartan-Athenian wars of 2,400 years ago. In it, a small girl bears witness as warriors battle to death. The dialog-free project utilizes natural sounds to complement the intense animation (entirely animated by Richard Williams himself). Williams – who is best known for his work as animation director on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, his unfinished feature “The Thief and the Cobbler” and Academy Award-winning “A Christmas Carol “adaptation – has worked on Prologue for many years in between other projects. It was finally completed this year at the Aardman Studios in Bristol, U.K.

These titles will be supplemented with the runners-up in this category:
If I Was God, Taking Flight, The Short Story of a Fox and a Mouse,The Loneliest Spotlight, Catch It
Please note, this series is 19+

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Ave Maria – dir. Basil Khalil, Palestine/France/Germany, 15 minutes
Five nuns living in the West Bank find their routine disrupted when the car of a family of Israeli settlers breaks down outside the convent. Unable to use the telephone due to Sabbath restrictions, the family needs help from the nuns, but the sisters’ vow of silence requires them to work with their visitors to find an unorthodox solution.

Shok – dir. Jamie Donoughue, Kosovo/UK, 21 minutes
In Kosovo in 1998, two young boys are best friends living normal lives, but as war engulfs their country, their daily existence becomes filled with violence and fear. Soon, the choices they make threaten not only their friendship, but their families and their lives.

Everything Will Be OK – dir. Patrick Vollrath, Germany/Austria, 30 minutes
Michael, a divorced father devoted to his eight-year-old daughter, Lea, picks her up for their usual weekend together. At first it feels like a normal visit, but Lea soon realizes that something is different, and so begins a fateful journey.

Stutterer – dir. Benjamin Cleary, UK/Ireland, 12 minutes
For a lonely typographer, an online relationship has provided a much-needed connection without revealing the speech impediment that has kept him isolated. Now, however, he is faced with the proposition of meeting his online paramour in the flesh, and thereby revealing the truth about himself.

Day One – dir. Henry Hughes, USA, 25 minutes
On the heels of a painful divorce, an Afghan-American woman joins the U.S. military as an interpreter and is sent to Afghanistan. On her first mission, she accompanies troops pursuing a bomb-maker, and must bridge the gender and culture gap to help the man’s pregnant wife when she goes into labor.