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

2011 NOMINATED SHORT: Day & Night

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, Day & Night.

Best Animated Short Film nominee, Day & Night

DAY & NIGHT USA/6 MIN

Director/Writer: Teddy Newton

Producer: Kevin Reher

When Day, a sunny fellow, encounters Night, a stranger of distinctly darker moods, sparks fly! Day and Night are frightened and suspicious of each other at first, and quickly get off on the wrong foot. But as they discover each other's unique qualities - and come to realize that each of them offers a different window onto the same world - the friendship helps both to gain a new perspective.

Director’s Biography:

Teddy Newton came to Pixar in July of 2000 to work on Pixar’s sixth feature film, The Incredibles and has since contributed his considerable character design skills to many of Disney•Pixar’s award-winning feature and short films, including Ratatouille, Your Friend the Rat and Presto.  He was also instrumental in the creation of the “End Titles” of The Incredibles and Ratatouille and is frequently cast as a voice in Disney•Pixar films, including the role of Chatter Telephone in the feature film Toy Story 3.

For his Disney•Pixar directorial debut, Newton teamed with producer Kevin Reher on Day & Night, released with Toy Story 3 on June 18, 2010.

Prior to coming to Pixar, Newton worked in the story department and in character design at Warner Bros. on Iron Giant.  He also served as writer/producer for the independent feature film The Trouble with Lou.

Newton is inspired by the drawings of Al Hirschfeld and early Warner Bros animation. He grew up in Dana Point, California, and attended California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts).

Awards:

Nominated: Best Animated Short Subject, 38^th Annie Awards

Nominated: Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Short, 9th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards

Festivals/Screenings:

Worldwide theatrical release, preceding feature film Toy Story 3.

View a brilliant Day & Night 'Making Of' below.

THE OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS 2011 ARE...

Wish 143

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

The Confession

The Crush

God of Love

Na Wewe

Wish 143

The Lost Thing

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Day & Night

The Gruffalo

Let’s Pollute

The Lost Thing

Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)

Poster Girl

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

Killing in the Name

Poster Girl

Strangers No More

Sun Come Up

The Warriors of Qiugang

PAST NOMINEES & WINNERS: Miracle Fish

Miracle Fish

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are revisiting past nominees and winners in the short film categories, all of which you can download from iTunes. Today, 2009 Best Live Action Short Film nominee, Miracle Fish.

Australia | 18 mins

Director/Writer: Luke Doolan

Producer: Drew Bailey

Cast: Karl Beattie, Brendan Donoghue, Tara Morice, Angus Russo, Jason Doric

The film tells the story of 8 year old Joe (Karl Beattie), who has a Birthday he will never forget. After friends tease him, he sneaks off to the sick bay, wishing everyone in the world would go away. He wakes up to find his dream may have become a reality.

The short film was shot over two and a half days using the RED ONE camera.

Download Miracle Fish from iTunes.

PAST NOMINEES & WINNERS: Instead of Abracadabra

Instead of Abracadabra

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are revisiting past nominees and winners in the short film categories, all of which you can download from iTunes. Today, 2009 Best Live Action Short Film nominee, Instead of Abracadabra.

Sweden | 22 mins

Director/Writer: Patrick Eklund

Producer: Mathias Fjällström

Cast: Simon J. Berger, Jacob Nordenson, Anki Larsson, Saga Garde, Goran Forsmark, Daniel Rudstedt

Tomas is a bit too old to be still living at home with his parents, but his failure to become a magician leaves him with no other choice. His father Bengt wants him to get a proper job. At Bengt's 60th birthday party, Tomas gives him and all his guests a quite bizarre magic show.

Eklund and Fjällström are gifted filmmakers, creating mini-masterpieces that are littered with laughs and big on heart. This year they've been short-listed for their latest comedy short, Seeds of the Fall.

View a clip below and download Instead of Abracadabra from iTunes in HD or SD.

PAST NOMINEES & WINNERS: Harvie Krumpet

Harvie Krumpet

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are revisiting past nominees and winners in the short film categories, all of which you can download from iTunes. Today, 2003 Best Animated Short Film winner, Harvie Krumpet.

Australia | 22 mins

Director/Writer: Adam Elliot

Producer: Melanie Coombs

Cast: Geoffrey Rush, Julie Forsyth, Kamahl, John Flaus 

The odd biography of a man who has Tourette's Syndrome, chronic bad luck, menial jobs, nudist tendencies, and a book of "fakts" hung around his neck.

Director Adam Elliot had a number of short films under his belt, prior to tackling Harvie Krumpet. With it's broad scope and complex narrative, the film was shot over the course of a year, utilising an innovative software that allowed the creator to view captured frames while working (a tool that has since revolutionised the production of stop-motion animation).

On completion, the film screened at over 100 film festivals worldwide winning over 40 awards including the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Adam Elliot has since directed his first feature film Mary and Max, a stop-motion drama starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette.

View a clip below and download Harvie Krumpet from iTunes.

PAST NOMINEES & WINNERS: Badgered

Badgered

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are revisiting past nominees and winners in the short film categories, all of which you can download from iTunes. Today, 2005 Best Animated Short Film nominee, Badgered.

UK | 6 mins

Director/Writer: Sharon Colman

Producer: Jamie Wolpert

Cast: Rupert Degas

A solitary Eurasian badger wants to get some sleep. It attempts to make an environmental statement by showing the interaction between the badger and USA Trident nuclear missiles that are stored inside the hill in Scotland where the badger lives.

Download Badgered from iTunes.

PAST NOMINEES & WINNERS: West Bank Story

West Bank Story

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are revisiting past nominees and winners in the short film categories, all of which you can download from iTunes. Today, 2006 Best Live Action Short Film winner, West Bank Story.

USA | 21 mins

Director: Ari Sandel

Writers: Kim Ray, Ari Sandel

Producers: Bill Boland, Ashley Jordan, Amy S. Kim, Ravi Malhotra, Ari Sandel, Pascal Vaguelsy

Cast: Ben Newmark, Noureen DeWulf, Joey Naber, A.J. Tannen

A musical comedy set in the fast-paced, fast-food world of competing falafel stands on the West Bank. David, an Israeli soldier, falls in love with Fatima, a beautiful Palestinian cashier, despite the animosity between their families' dueling restaurants. Can the couple's love withstand a 58-year-old conflict and their families' desire to control the future of the chick pea in the Middle East?

View a clip below and download West Bank Story from iTunes.

PAST NOMINEES & WINNERS: Six Shooter

Six Shooter

In the lead up to the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th, we are revisiting past nominees and winners in the short film categories, all of which you can download from iTunes. Today, 2005 Best Live Action Short Film winner, Six Shooter.

Ireland | 27 mins

Director/Writer: Martin McDonagh

Producers: Kenton Allen, Mia Bays

Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Rúaidhrí Conroy, David Wilmot, Aisling O'Sullivan

A black and bloody Irish comedy about a sad train journey where an older man, whose wife has died that morning, encounters a strange and possibly psychotic young oddball.

Director/Writer Martin McDonagh went on to write and direct the feature film In Bruges starring Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes

View a clip below and download Six Shooter from iTunes.