Oscar nominated shorts: A world tour

Every year as a member of the Columbus Academy Motion Picture Pickers (CAMPP) I embark on a movie going frenzy to see all the movies nominated in every major category. Not on the list of my obligatory must-sees were the films nominated for Short Features and Short Animation, but I saw them anyway and highly recommend them as a way to enjoy the scope of humanity and art.

For the past three years I've seen the nominated movies in both categories all in a row, one after another--10 in all. This is one way to travel from country to country, from sensibility to sensibility in a few hours. What strikes me is that, although there are often cultural influences and differences particular to each country from which the movies hail, there are many thematic similarities among them. What this shows to me is through the diversity, we can always relate. Terrific stories are terrific in any language.

These movies are making the rounds. Check out film festivals or independent cinemas to see if you can catch them. Here's the list of the films and which country they are from:

Short Film (Live Action)

• Om Natten (At Night ) --Denmark I picked this one to win
• Il Supplente (The Substitute) - Italy
• The Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets) - France This one won.
• Tanghi argentini --Belgium
• The Tonto Woman - United Kingdom I thought this one might win. It could be made into a wonderful full length movie.

Short Film (Animated)

• I Met the Walrus - Canada I picked this one to win. It chronicles the time a 14 year-old boy talked his way into John Lennon's hotel room for an interview.
• Madame Tutli-Putli - Canada
• Même les pigeons vont au paradis (Even pigeons go to heaven)-- France
• Peter and the Wolf--Poland This one won.
• Moya Lyubov (My love)-- Russia

For clips of the animated shorts, head to BuzzSugar.

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