2011 NOMINATED SHORT: The Crush

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are taking a closer look at this year's short film nominees. Today, one of this year's Best Live Action Short Film contenders, The Crush.

Best Live Action Short Film nominee, The Crush 

THE CRUSH Ireland/15 MIN

Director/Writer: Michael Creagh

Producer: Damon Quinn

Cast: Charlie Bonner, Neilí Conroy, Oran Creagh, Rory Keenan, Olga Wehrly

Ardal Travis is in love. There's just one problem. He's an 8 year old schoolboy and the object of his affection is his Second Class teacher, Miss Purdy. But when her boyfriend arrives on the scene Ardal is heartbroken. His reaction, though, is a little unexpected. He challenges Miss Purdy's boyfriend to a duel. To the death.

Michael Creagh was born in Belfast. He received a degree in design at Belfast College before moving to Dublin to follow a career in advertising. After 12 years as an art director he has been trying to break into both films and commercials. The Crush is his debut short film.

View an exclusive clip from The Crush below.

1 DAY TO GO!!!: US Theater List

The 2011 Oscar Shorts Theater List

The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2011 are in theaters across the US from tomorrow, 11 February.

A list of cinemas is available on our official website. We've also reproduced this data as a spreadsheet which provides an at-a-glance look at participating venues. 

 

Click here to access the Theatre List.

2011 NOMINATED SHORT: Strangers No More

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are taking a closer look at this year's nominees. Today, one of this year's Best Documentary Short Subject contenders, Strangers No More.

Best Documentary Short Subject nominee, Strangers No More

STRANGERS NO MORE USA/40 MIN

Directors/Producers: Karen Goodman, Kirk Simon

In the heart of Tel Aviv, there is an exceptional school where children from 48 different countries and diverse backgrounds come together to learn. Many of the students arrive at Bialik-Rogozin in the wake of poverty, political adversity and even genocide. Here, no child is a stranger.

Kirk Simon and Karen Goodman have made over twenty documentaries and in the process have garnered four Academy Award nominations, three Emmys and the DuPont-Columbia Award for Independent Programming. They have received filmmaking grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation, and the American Film Institute.

Their documentaries have been broadcast nationally on PBS, HBO, and MTV, and screened at festivals around the world including the New York Film Festival, Sundance, New Directors / New Films, London, Berlin, Montreal and St. Petersburg. In addition, they have overseen and filmed dance preservation projects for the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Lincoln Center's Library and Museum of the Performing Arts.

Both Mr. Simon and Ms. Goodman are active voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. They have served as consultants to the National Endowment for the Humanities Media Program, on the Documentary Screening Committee for the Academy Awards and as judges for the Emmy Awards and the DuPont-Columbia Broadcast Journalism Award.

View an exclusive clip from Strangers No More below.

2011 NOMINATED SHORT: God of Love

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are taking a closer look at this year's nominees. Today, one of this year's Best Live Action Short Film contenders, God of Love.

Best Live Action Short Film nominee, God of Love

GOD OF LOVE USA/18 MIN

Director/Writer: Luke Matheny

Producers: Gigi Demant, Ryan Silbert, Stefanie Walmsley 

Cast: Luke Matheny, Marian Brock, Christopher Hirsh, Emily Young, Miguel Rosales

Lounge-singing darts champion Raymond Goodfellow finds his prayers are answered -- literally -- when he receives a mysterious package of passion-inducing darts. The catch is that the one woman he loves -- Kelly, a drummer in his band -- is already in love with Ray's best friend Fozzie, the guitarist in the band. But when Ray uses the darts in a loony scheme to resolve this strange romantic triangle, he learns a surprising lesson about unrequited love and discovers his own place in the universe. Romance is in the air in this bohemian charmer.

Luke Matheny is a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based director, writer, actor and professor.

His short film God of Love – a comedy about a lounge-singing darts champion who receives a package of love-inducing darts – was winner of the Student Academy Award; special jury recognition at Aspen ShortsFest; as well as first prize and the King Award for Screenwriting at the NYU First Run Film Festival. The film has screened and won awards at dozens of festivals around the world. God of Love was Matheny’s thesis at NYU’s graduate film program.

Matheny has also co-written a feature-length coming-of-age comedy, A Birder’s Guide to Everything, with Sundance-award-winning director Rob Meyer. The project is currently in pre-production at Crossroads Films in New York.

His previous short film Earano -- a loose, comic retelling of the Cyrano de Bergerac tale – won  the King Award for Screenwriting at the NYU First Run Festival, an honorable mention for the Fujifilm Audience Impact Award at the Angelus Student Film Festival, and Best Student Short at the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City, Nevada.

Earano was also called "charming and hilarious [and] quite romantic" by New York Magazine's website.

Matheny grew up in Wilmington, Delaware. He has a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University's prestigious Medill School of Journalism and has worked as a reporter and copy editor in a variety of newspapers, magazines and web sites. He has also worked as a synopsis writer for Netflix, a story editor for the MTV series MADE, and as a filmmaking teacher at the School of Cinema and Performing Arts (SOCAPA) in Brooklyn.

He is currently writing a feature comedy script called Ron Quixote. He enjoys jazz, Scrabble and cleaning his desk. 

View an exclusive clip from God of Love below.

2011 NOMINATED SHORT: Sun Come Up

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are taking a closer look at this year's nominees. Today, one of this year's Best Documentary Short Subject contenders, Sun Come Up.

Best Documentary Short Subject nominee, Sun Come Up

SUN COME UP USA, Papua New Guinea/38 MIN

Director/Producer: Jennifer Redfearn

Producer/Cinematographer: Tim Metzger

Sun Come Up follows the relocation of some of the world’s first environmental refugees, the Carteret Islanders – a community living on a remote island chain in the South Pacific Ocean. When rising seas threaten their survival, the islanders face a painful decision: they must leave their beloved land in search of a new place to call home.

Jennifer Redfearn is a New York-based director, producer, and editor.  She has worked on programming for PBS, Discovery, TLC, and independent and educational distribution. She is currently producing and editing multimedia for MediaStorm where she recently completed When the Water Ends about climate change in East Africa.  In 2008, she co-produced a two-hour special, Doctors’ Diaries for WGBH/NOVA, and she produced a medical series for the Discovery channel.  She holds a Bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Wellesley College and a Master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.  Sun Come Up is her first independent documentary. She teaches storytelling and media skills at MediaStorm, NBC, and DCTV. Her work has been supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, NYSCA, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and the Jerome Foundation, among others.

View an exclusive clip from Sun Come Up below.

2011 NOMINATED SHORT: Wish 143

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are taking a closer look at this year's nominees, all of which will be available to download from iTunes on February 22nd. Today, one of this year's Best Live Action Short Film nominees, Wish 143.

Best Live Action Short Film nominee, Wish 143

WISH 143 UK/24 MIN

Director: Ian Barnes

Writer: Tom Bidwell

Producer: Samantha Waite

Cast: Jim Carter, Jodie Whittaker, Dean Andrews

A fifteen-year-old boy with only months to live is granted one wish from the Dreamscape Charity. But David doesn't want to go to Disneyland or meet Gary Neville; what he really wants is an hour alone with a naked woman.

Wish 143 is the second short film from Ian Barnes following on from Swing, which graphically showed how adultery can seriously damage your health. In between making shorts Ian directs comedy and drama for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. Projects include Hope Springs starring Alex Kingston, Wild At Heart starring Stephen Tompkinson and The Afternoon Plays.

In 2009 and 2010 Ian was part of the team nominated for a BAFTA for episodes of the medical drama Casualty. One of the episodes revolved around the attempted suicide of a junior doctor. Ian started life as a journalist and gradually moved into directing drama via radio and television.

He is currently working on a feature script Plain Jane which he will be taking to the Sundance Lab in 2010.

2011 NOMINATED SHORT: Poster Girl

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are taking a closer look at this year's nominees, all of which will be available to download from iTunes on February 22nd. Today, one of this year's Best Documentary Short Subject nominees, Poster Girl.

Best Documentary Short Subject nominee, Poster Girl

POSTER GIRL USA/38 MIN

Director: Sara Nesson

Producer: Mitchell Block, Sara Nesson

Apple pie cheerleader turned tough-as-nails machine gunner in the Iraq War, Sgt. Robynn Murray comes home to face a new kind of battle she never anticipated.

Director/DP/Editor Sara Nesson is in the post-production stage of two films – Poster Girl and Iraq Paper Scissors. Both follow Iraq War Veterans over 2 1/2 years as they cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the emotional ups and downs as they embark on an unusual healing journey. Poster Girl was recently acquired by HBO to be part of their focus on PTSD series.

Sara has worked as the principle editor for Stolen Childhoods, directed by Len Morris, Galen Films, PBS and 2nd editor on Plastic Disasters, directed by Kate Davis, HBO. PG and IPS are Sara’s first independent documentary features.

Sara runs Sara Nesson Productions from her fabulous editing studio in Dumbo, NY, which she shares with her advisor and friend, Academy Award Winner for Born into Brothels, Ross Kauffman.

2011 NOMINATED SHORT: The Lost Thing

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are taking a closer look at this year's nominees, all of which will be available to download from iTunes on February 22nd. Today, one of this year's Best Animated Short Film nominees, The Lost Thing.



Best Animated Short Film nominee, The Lost Thing



THE LOST THING Australia, UK/15 MIN

 

Directors/Writers: Andrew Ruhemann, Shaun Tan

Producer: Sophie Byrne

Cast: Tim Minchin

A boy discovers a bizarre looking creature while out collecting bottle tops at the beach. Realising it is lost, he tries to find out who owns it or where it belongs, but is met with indifference from everyone else, who barely notice its presence, each unwilling to entertain this uninvited interruption to their day to day lives. For reasons he does not explain, the boy empathises with the creature, and sets out to find a ‘place’ for it.

Production company Passion Pictures Australia was established in 2004 by award-winning animation producer Sophie Byrne and is an associate company of the Oscar-winning Passion Pictures (UK), one of Europe's leading independent production studios.

Andrew Ruhemann is the owner and executive producer of Passion Pictures, which he established in 1987 as a production company supplying animation and special effects. Previously he worked as a producer at the Richard Williams Studio, makers of the award winning animation for the feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

From its early beginnings Passion Pictures is now one of Europe’s leading independent film production companies representing over 30 leading directors from all over the world. The company is active in commercials and music video production, including the animated band Gorillaz. Recent credits include spectacular animated sequences for the launch of The Beatles: Rock Band game (Harmonix and MTV) and Compare the Market featuring Alexsandr the Russian meerkat was placed number one in the Top 10 Commercials of the Year (2009) in Campaign Magazine. The company has studios in London and Paris, and a new office in New York which opened in 2009.

Passion Pictures also has an award winning film and television department specializing in documentary, which Andrew runs with business partner John Battsek. Their first film the feature documentary One Day In September (dir: Kevin McDonald 2000) was the winner of an Academy Award in 2000. Since then they have produced many more award winning films and will premiere two new films at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010.

Andrew travels all over the world for the company searching for new talent and developing new markets for Passion Pictures’ work. The Lost Thing is Andrew’s directorial debut. The animated film which he has co-directed with Shaun Tan (who wrote and illustrated the book upon which the film is based) was produced by Passion Pictures Australia and in association with Screen Australia and will be released in 2010.

Shaun Tan was born in 1974 and grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. In school he became known as the 'good drawer' which partly compensated for always being the shortest kid in every class. He graduated from the University of WA in 1995 with joint honours in Fine Arts and English Literature, and currently works full time as a freelance artist and author in Melbourne.

Shaun began drawing and painting images for science fiction and horror stories in small-press magazines as a teenager, and has since become best known for illustrated books that deal with social, political and historical subjects through surreal, dream-like imagery. Books such as The Rabbits, The Red Tree, The Lost Thing and the acclaimed wordless novel The Arrival have been widely translated throughout Europe, Asia and South America, and enjoyed by readers of all ages.

Shaun has also worked as a theatre designer, and worked as a concept artist for the films Horton Hears a Who and Pixar's WALL-E. He is currently directing a short film with Passion Pictures Australia; his most recently published book is Tales from Outer Suburbia.

2011 NOMINATED SHORT: The Confession

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are taking a closer look at this year's nominees, all of which will be available to download from iTunes on February 22nd. Today, one of this year's Best Live Action Short Film nominees, The Confession.

Best Live Action Short Film nominee, The Confession

THE CONFESSION UK/26 MIN

Director: Tanel Toom

Writer: Caroline Bruckner

Producer: Emily Williams

Cast: Aran Bell, Joe Eales, Lewis Howlett, James Simmons

Quiet and sincere 9-year-old Sam is worried about making his first confession. His conscience is clear, therefore he cannot hope for any relief from the experience. He and his friend Jacob decide to remedy that situation, but their initially innocent prank turns unexpectedly tragic.

Director’s Biography:

Originally from Estonia, Tanel was born in Tallinn 1982. He studied filmmaking at the Tallinn University, which he graduated, with a BA in 2005. After that, he was working as a commercials director and in 2008 he completed his fourth short film The Second Coming which was premiered at the Venice Film Festival. The apocalyptical war drama has since been screened at numerous film festivals and won several awards, including the Best European Short at the Archipelago International Film Festival. The same year, he decided to continue his studies at the National Film and TV School in England. He graduated from the NFTS with an MA in 2010 and shortly after that his diploma film The Confession won the Student Academy Award® in foreign film

category.

At the moment, Tanel is working in UK and Estonia and developing his first feature projects. He has a passion for darker stories that speak to the hearts as well as the mind. He loves to impact the audience - whether with fear, laughter or bittersweet pain.

2011 NOMINATED SHORT: The Warriors Of Qiugang

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are taking a closer look at this year's nominees, all of which will be available to download from iTunes on February 22nd. Today, one of this year's Best Documentary Short Subject nominees, The Warriors Of Qiugang.

Best Documentary Short Subject nominee, The Warriors Of Qiugang

THE WARRIORS OF QIUGANG USA/39 MIN 

Director: Ruby Yang

Writer: Thomas Lennon

Producers: Thomas Lennon & Ruby Yang

Villagers in a remote district of central China take on a chemical company that is poisoning their water and air. For five years they fight to transform their environment and as they do, they find themselves transformed as well.

Director’s Biography:

Ruby Yang is a noted Chinese-American filmmaker whose work in documentary and dramatic film has earned her numerous international awards, including an Academy Award (two nominations). She lives and works in Beijing.

In 2003, along with producer Thomas Lennon, Yang founded the Chang Ai Media Project to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in China. Since then, its documentaries and public service announcements have been seen more than 900 million times. The Blood of Yingzhou District, which Yang directed as part of the project, won the 2006 Academy Award for Documentary Short. The project’s second documentary short, Tongzhi in Love, was released in June 2008. In August 2010, Yang and Lennon completed the project’s third documentary short, The Warriors of Qiugang.

She is currently developing several feature film projects with young Chinese scriptwriters.

Writer’s Biography:

Thomas Lennon’s work in documentary film has won the field’s most coveted honors: an Academy Award (three nominations), two duPont-Columbia and George Foster Peabody awards and two national Emmys. He has twice premiered films at Sundance.

He founded, with Ruby Yang, the China AIDS Media Project; their groundbreaking AIDS awareness messages have been seen over 900 million times on Chinese television and the Internet, probably the largest campaigns in the history of the disease. This work earned them profiles in the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times and on PBS. Their long-time collaboration produced a trilogy of films set in China, the most recent of which, The Warriors of Qiugang, was nominated for a 2010 Oscar. The Blood of Yingzhou District, the first of the trilogy, won an Oscar in 2007.

In 2003, Lennon was series producer and lead writer of Becoming American, a six-hour PBS series with Bill Moyers that traced Chinese immigration from the early 19th century to the present-day. “A model documentary that gets almost everything right,” wrote the New York Times. The series won four Emmy nominations.

More than ten million viewers – double the PBS prime-time average – tuned in to the 1998 premiere of Lennon’s The Irish in America: Long Journey Home. “The filmmaker is a consummate storyteller,” wrote The Boston Globe; the work “looks and sounds like a labor of love,” said The New York Times. Rated among the year’s ten best by TV Guide, the series earned, again, four Emmy nominations, and its companion CD won the Grammy for best folk album of the year.

Lennon’s The Battle over Citizen Kane (1996) was featured at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals among many others – “a two-hour tornado of a documentary,” according to Time Magazine. After the film’s nomination for an Oscar, Ridley Scott’s production company adapted it as an HBO dramatic film, starring John Malkovich and Liev Schreiber.

Battle of the Bulge, co-written with Mark Zwonitzer, won the Peabody and duPont-Columbia awards for 1995. “Unforgettable,” the Chicago Tribune wrote, “as great and as moving a documentary as television has ever produced.”

Lennon’s other films include his acclaimed collaborations with writer Shelby Steele, Seven Days in Bensonhurst (1990) and Jefferson’s Blood (2000), as well as The Choice (1992) and Tabloid Truth (1994), both written with Richard Ben Cramer. Before setting up his own production company in 1987, Lennon worked for almost a decade in the Close-up Division of ABC News, with assignments in the Soviet Union, South America and the Middle East. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale University.

Awards:

Nominated for 83^rd Academy Awards Documentary Short Subject

Festivals/Screenings:

2011 Ashland Independent Film Festival; 2011 Hong Kong International Film Festival