Best Animated Short Film Winners and Nominees Ranked (1969-2022)
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- DirectorWard KimballStarsRuth BuzziRichard BakalyanJohn EmersonPart cartoon and part documentary, this film offers a humorous look at birds and the ways people perceive them.
- DirectorJohn HubleyWhen the Gods of Rain, Wind and Fire team up to ruin a simple farmer's tranquil life, the war is on between nature and machines.
- DirectorRyan LarkinA cinematic portrait of people walking in their individual ways.
- DirectorLee MishkinStarsOrson WellesDiana HaleThe world is divided into factions, on opposite sides of issues; each side is, of course, right. And so the gap between the people grows, until someone challenges the absolutist view of what's "right."
- DirectorDale CaseRobert MitchellUncle Sam has been living peacefully in the American southwest, running a gas station. But when terrorists kidnap the Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam teams up with an eagle to go rescue her.
- DirectorCameron GuessStarsScott BeachA shepherd, who wants to be left alone to pursue his career, finally faces the reality that there are no jobs for shepherds. He sends his sheep to the country and takes a correspondence course to train for a new career.
- DirectorTed PetokStarsLen MaxwellA woman goes into a pet store seeking a gift for her husband. She decides to get him a bird with a most unusual talent, but her gift brings about an unforeseen result.
- DirectorMichael MillsA humourous illustration of the natural process of evolution.
- DirectorPeter SanderStarsPaul HechtCharles AznavourThe King SistersA giant builds a wall to keep children out of his garden, but then winter sets in permanently.
- DirectorRichard WilliamsStarsAlastair SimMichael RedgraveMelvyn HayesAn old bitter miser is given a chance for redemption when spirits visit him on Christmas Eve.
- DirectorBob GodfreyStarsBob GodfreyL.J. DickensAn animated short from British comedian Bob Godfrey.
- DirectorNedeljko DragicAldo RaparelliThe quick tempo of life in polluted cities makes patients out of people. Neurosis is an everyday occurrence.
- DirectorCaroline MourisFrank MourisStarsFrank MourisOne soundtrack features the animator narrating an autobiography; the other features him reading a list of words beginning with the letter 'F'. The images on screen tie these two soundtracks together.
- DirectorSam WeissStarsRoberta FlackThe folk legend of John Henry, and his contest with a steam engine to cut a railroad tunnel through a mountain, is told in song by Roberta Flack.
- DirectorGiulio GianiniEmanuele LuzzatiPulcinella dreams himself into a wild nightmare of a dream that leads us through an abstract world.
- DirectorBob GardinerWill VintonStarsTodd OlesonHolly JohnsonA man visiting a museum sees the works of art come to life.
- DirectorYvon MalletteStarsE.B. WhiteA family of seven lives on a New England island with nobody else. One winter, they got stranded because the bay froze over. This didn't much matter to them, but someone on the mainland remembered them and launched an aerial rescue mission; an unfounded story that one boy had appendicitis results in a larger rescue mission, with the situation rapidly escalating into a major catastrophe all because of the rescue mission.
- DirectorPeter FoldesCruel, and utterly effective, Peter Foldes' experimentation with computer animation employs a bold speechless narrative to draw attention to the grave effects of consumerism. Who needs ethics when everything is within arm's reach?
- DirectorFaith HubleyJohn HubleyStarsDizzy GillespieHans KollerMaureen StapletonMother Earth and Father Time discuss and observe humanity's questionable and destructive progress throughout history.
- DirectorJohn LounsberyWolfgang ReithermanStarsSebastian CabotJunius MatthewsJohn FiedlerRabbit is tired of Tigger always bouncing him, so he gets Pooh and Piglet together to come up with an idea to get the bounce out of Tigger. Rabbit suggests they take him into the middle of nowhere and leave him overnight. The idea backfires and Rabbit, Piglet and Pooh find themselves lost, but Pooh's tummy guides them home. Then, Tigger and Roo go out for a bounce and get caught in a tree, which Tigger is too afraid to get out of, and Rabbit makes Tigger promise that if they help get Tigger down, that Tigger can never bounce again. So Tigger is rescued and feels sad that he can no longer bounce, but everyone, including Rabbit, agrees they liked the old bouncy Tigger better.
- DirectorBob GodfreyStarsRichard BriersHarry FowlerBarbara MooreAn animated film about the British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who spearheaded numerous engineering marvels of the early 19th century - including the Thames Tunnel, the Great Western Railway, and the Great Eastern steamship (for 40 years the world's largest steamship). Various styles of animation are used to depict events in his colorful life.
- DirectorRobert SwartheAn Oscar Nominated short film about a red pair of legs.
- DirectorAndré LeducBernard LongpréStarsPaul CormierMonsieur Pointu would like to play his fiddle. But the fiddle has other ideas.
- DirectorMarcell JankovicsThe film is an artistically spare depiction of the Greek myth of Sysiphus, sentenced to eternally roll a stone up a mountain. The story is presented in a single, unbroken shot, consisting of a dynamic line drawing of Sysiphus, the stone, and the mountainside.
- DirectorBruce PettyStarsAlexander ArchdaleA short course of boring history about how not to die of boredom.
- DirectorManfredo ManfrediA man and a woman sit in a room and when the wind blows the window open, the man imagines what would happen if he kills the woman and the following drama blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction.
- DirectorCaroline LeafStarsMort RansenSarah DwightJohn HoodThis film deals with a Jewish family in Montreal, Canada as they care for a dying grandmother and the young boy who is impatient to get the room he was promised as soon as she kicks the bucket.
- DirectorCo HoedemanOn a sandy desert, a man made of sand constructs other sand creatures to help make a beautiful sand castle for themselves.
- DirectorIshu PatelTo a percussive soundtrack, a succession of more complex animals forms and is consumed by their successors (all formed from beads). Finally, We reach man, who develops ever more sophisticated forms of war.
- DirectorFaith HubleyJohn HubleyGarry TrudeauStarsRichard CoxBarbara HarrisDavid GrantGarry Trudeau's classic characters (Mike Doonesbury, Zonker, etc.) examine how their lifestyles, priorities, and concerns have changed since the end of their idealistic college days in the 1960's.
- DirectorJimmy PickerPresident Jimmy Carter "sings" Ray Charles' "Georgia on my Mind", while thinking about his home state.
- DirectorEunice MacaulayJohn WeldonStarsSandy SandersonJean MarchandA hapless husband neglects to clear the icy walk, which leads to the mailman slipping and breaking his neck. A comedy of errors results from his attempts to hide the body.
- DirectorBørge RingThe pure and unconditional love that parents have for a child is admirable, but, in this case, there is also value in letting go.
- DirectorWill VintonStarsWill GeerTim ConnerBob GriggsRip Van Winkle, a lazy American man, wanders off one day with his dog Wolf into the Kaatskill mountains where he runs into an odd group of men drinking and playing bowls. He drinks some of their mysterious brew and passes out. When he wakes up under a tree he is astonished to find that 20 years have passed and things are a lot different. This is a charming story about how America changed due to the revolutionary war, only in a different and more subtle way than ever told before.
- DirectorEugene FedorenkoStarsBernard CarezSophie CowlingRaymond PollenderAn abandoned baby is repeatedly left on a series of doorsteps in a well-to-do community, only to be rejected by each in turn until the infant arrives at the one social group that shows any concern and compassion.
- DirectorBob GodfreyZlatko GrgicA lonely old man finds his true love, a blowup doll, in a sex shop, only to lose her. But for lovers, there are sometimes happy endings.
- DirectorPaul FierlingerStarsJim ThurmanAn old man lives in a house on the docks with his old dog Peppy, his old cat Ginger, and his old fish, Lightning. The man and his pets decide they need someone to look after them, so they put out an advertisement looking for a companion.
- DirectorFerenc RofuszA fine day in the life of a fly presented completely from the fly's point of view. A fine day until something dreary happens, that is.
- DirectorFrédéric BackAn illustration of beings in a world where countless plant and animal species rapidly become extinct, and resources run dry due to greed. However, it is possible to avoid disaster by conserving and sharing what we have.
- DirectorMichael MillsStarsVlasta VranaMichael MillsAn interpretation of the history of the World in Three Minutes.
- DirectorFrédéric BackThe industrialization of Montreal (Canada), as seen from the point of view of a rocking-chair.
- DirectorWill VintonStarsJames Earl JonesThe film is based on a poem by James Weldon Johnson depicting the power of the southern black American preacher's telling of the biblical creation story.
- DirectorJanet PerlmanCinderella has to stay home while her evil stepsisters go to the ball. You know the rest except everyone here is a penguin (even the mice that become the "horses") and the lost slipper is more like a swimming flipper.
- DirectorZbigniew RybczynskiSubsequent characters appear in a poorly-decorated room, intertwining but never colliding, all possessed by never-ending rituals.
- DirectorWill VintonStarsJohn MorrisonTim ConnerBrian BresslerIn clay animation, the impersonator known as The Great Cognito literally transforms into countless faces of famous people.
- DirectorJimmy T. MurakamiDianne JacksonStarsDavid BowieRaymond BriggsMel SmithOn Christmas Eve, a young boy builds a snowman that comes to life and takes him to the North Pole to meet Father Christmas.
- DirectorJimmy PickerStarsScott RecordA character closely resembling then-mayor Ed Koch sings a variation on the "Theme from 'New York, New York'" in an entirely clay-animated film depicting a variety of locations and celebrities associated with New York City.
- DirectorBurny MattinsonStarsAlan YoungWayne AllwineHal SmithThe classic Disney animated characters play the roles in this animated retelling of the Charles Dickens masterpiece.
- DirectorCaroline HeywardStarsDamon HinesJimmy AroneLisa BonetA blind boy visualizes what he hears and experiences on a regular basis.
- DirectorJohn MinnisStarsJohn MinnisA talented, but doomed, gentleman tries to participate in a properly British game of charades.
- DirectorMichael SpornStarsIan ThomsonA mouse dentist finds a way help a fox with a toothache without getting eaten.
- DirectorIshu PatelIn this short animation film, a magnificent bird performs for the Emperor inside a glittering palace. Its plumage is a blaze of colour. A blackbird, watching enviously, strives to acquire what he so desperately covets, only to discover that a golden cage can't compete with the open skies.
- DirectorBørge RingStarsTonny HuurdemanAnnemieke RingPeter RingTwo sisters look back on their life together.
- DirectorRichard CondieStarsJay BrazeauIda OslerRandy WoodsA couple have a fight over a scrabble game unaware that a full scale nuclear war has started.
- DirectorAlison SnowdenA lonely woman sends off for a special mail-order package.
- DirectorNicole Van GoethemThree scantily-clad female figures struggle to hold up the crumbling remains of an ancient Greek temple.
- DirectorBob StenhouseStarsGrant TillyA frog gets trapped in a liquor bottle.
- DirectorJohn LasseterA larger lamp watches while a smaller, younger lamp plays exuberantly with a ball but doesn't pick up the knack of correct handling.
- DirectorFrédéric BackStarsPhilippe NoiretChristopher PlummerThe story of a shepherd's single handed quest to re-forest a barren valley.
- DirectorDavid FineAlison SnowdenStarsCec LinderDoris MalcolmMarty MyersAn old shy man works up the gumption to meet a woman whom he has a crush on.
- DirectorBill PlymptonStarsMaureen McElheronA man's head transforms and contorts bizarrely as he sings "Your Face," an original song.
- DirectorJohn LasseterA one-man-band tin toy tries to escape a destructive baby.
- DirectorCordell BarkerStarsRichard CondieA pesky yellow cat becomes the bane of Mr. Johnson's life as it constantly outsmarts his increasingly desperate attempts to get rid of it.
- DirectorBill KroyerStarsMel BlancAn office clerk, fearing replacement by a robot, fights back.
- DirectorChristoph LauensteinWolfgang LauensteinA group of fishermen on a precariously balanced platform fight over a trunk.
- DirectorAleksandr PetrovStarsNikolai GusarovLyubov TeplovaKostya PanovIn the outback, on the railway station there lives a family. 4th grade schoolboy Vasya Rubtsov is experiencing the death of his beloved best friend the cow. The boy remembers how they used to have a cow, how this cow fed everyone with milk and how she suffered when the calf was sold for meat.
- DirectorMark BakerA country couple and their shepherd endure drought, flood, a monstrous bear, hunters and tourists during a somewhat odd few days in their normally quiet life.
- DirectorNick ParkStarsJulie SedgewickA humourous and thought provoking view of what animals in zoos might be thinking about their captivity and surroundings.
- DirectorNick ParkStarsPeter SallisPeter HawkinsTo replenish their depleted supply of cheese, inventor Wallace and his dog Gromit travel to the moon in a homemade rocket-ship.
- DirectorBruno BozzettoMen killing each other through the ages for various reasons.
- DirectorDaniel GreavesA discarded cartoon character and some spilt ink combine and interact as if the cartoonist had drawn their actions. Discovering them, the cartoonist then joins in the interaction.
- DirectorChristopher HintonStarsWade HemsworthA young surveyor, new to northern Ontario, encounters the black flies. Over and over again, he encounters those black flies.
- DirectorWendy TilbyThis film explores the distant relationship between an elderly amateur musician, the woman who lives in the apartment above him and the leaky bathtub that is bothering them both.
- DirectorJoan C. GratzStarsJean G. PoulotTwo-dimensional clay animations melding and merging the work of 35 famous artists.
- DirectorPeter LordStarsNick UptonWhen The Hand of God creates Adam, he must learn the ways of the world, and can only hope for company...
- DirectorMichaela PavlátováIn a noisy bar crammed with people, the remarkably diverse clientele interacts with each other through a series of lively bubbles. Words can be rich and emotional, or sharp and pitilessly accurate; but, what would man be without them?
- DirectorPaul BerryUpstairs, in the moonlit and empty room, a little boy scared of the dancing shadows, encounters a figment of his vivid imagination: the horrible Sandman.
- DirectorBarry PurvesStarsMichael MaloneyWith visual aids, a narrator tells a story of forbidden love in Feudal Japan, but life has other plans.
- DirectorNick ParkStarsPeter SallisPeter HawkinsGromit butts heads with a mysterious penguin lodger, who hatches a sinister scheme involving the ex-NASA Techno Trousers that have been modified by Wallace for walkies.
- DirectorStephen PalmerA blind man awakes in what may be a forest. (What he touches or hears is in color; the rest of the world, when it is visible to us, is in black and white.) First he explores his surroundings. Then fear takes over, what he hears and touches and imagines, frightens him. He gathers his courage to assert himself, almost with bestial intensity. He realizes that people have gathered to watch him as a policeman tries to coax him out of danger.
- DirectorFrédéric BackStarsPaul HébertDonald SutherlandThe environmental history of the St. Lawrence River and the impact of human exploitation of it.
- DirectorBob GodfreyStarsBob GodfreyAn Oscar nominated cartoon about underestimating those appearing small and weak.
- DirectorMark BakerStarsAnnie GriffinDave WesternJames BakerA village is ruled by the church, but it filled with hypocritical sinners who constantly spy on each other.
- DirectorDavid FineAlison SnowdenStarsAndy HamiltonAlison SnowdenHarry EnfieldA devoted and happily-married housewife organises a surprise party on the occasion of her husband's birthday, unbeknownst to her that her dentist spouse is experiencing a sudden mid-life crisis at his office.
- DirectorDavid StotenTim WattsStarsFrank GorshinIn a witty homage to Kirk Douglas's films, all three characters ARE Kirk Douglas at various stages of his career. The short action takes place in a news room. A young reporter looking for his big chance pleads with his editor to give him a breaking story.
- DirectorVanessa SchwartzStarsGeoffrey LewisA mildly-irreverent reinterpretation of bible events, with God's janitor claiming, by virtue of covering up his own lapses, credit for everything from the Flood to the Ascension!
- DirectorMichael Dudok de WitA plump and exuberant monk goes fishing, and a playful fish eludes him. First the monk uses a rod and reel, then a net; over and over, he ends up fish-less and wet. Sleepless, he tries luring the fish at night with a bank of candles. He tries a bow and arrow. The tireless and insouciant fish leads the monk through a viaduct, over irrigated steppes, across cisterns, down canals. Suddenly, the monk's chase and the fish's teasing flight become a spiritual journey.
- DirectorErica RussellStarsCindy CreekmoreTension rises when a second woman joins a dancing couple.
- DirectorNick ParkStarsPeter SallisAnne ReidJustin FletcherWallace's whirlwind romance with the owner of the local wool shop puts his head in a spin; Gromit is framed for sheep-rustling in a fiendish criminal plot.
- DirectorJohn DilworthStarsHoward HoffmanIn this pilot for Courage the Cowardly Dog (1999), Courage, the cowardly dog of an oblivious elderly couple that lives on a remote farm, must defend them from a malicious space chicken bent on conquest and its mutagenic eggs.
- DirectorChris LandrethStarsJeffrey HirschfieldGina ClaytonHannah KravitzAn animator finds himself trying to explain his (lack of) artistic vision to his creations, who just aren't impressed.
- DirectorAleksey KharitidiA young caterpillar yearns to fly like the butterflies and birds, but cannot launch himself high enough to do so - until a couple start playing badminton nearby.
- DirectorChris BaileyStarsWayne AllwineRussi TaylorKelsey GrammerIn an attempt to convince Minnie that he hasn't forgotten to buy her an anniversary present, Mickey Mouse ends up promising to take her to Hawaii. Funds being short, he applies for a job as lab assistant to the sinister Dr. Frankenollie, who happens to be searching for a donor to provide his monstrous creation with a brain...
- DirectorTyron MontgomeryIn the desolate landscapes of an unforgiving desert, a desperate for water wanderer summons up the strength to follow the muffled sound of dripping liquid, only to pay the high price of pursuing a dream. Is all hope lost?
- DirectorTimothy HittleA clay man encounters a sweet blue clay dog, only to lose track of him during a protracted battle with a huge metal creature. A surreal landscape of cans, bottles, scrap metal, oil, and fissures threaten the protagonist. How will he survive, and where's the dog?
- DirectorRichard CondieStarsJay BrazeauA tale of a man who has everything he needs in his one little room, and the disasters that befall him when he succumbs to the temptation of the world outside his door. An Italian opera, with subtitles and some cows and fish.
- DirectorPeter LordTwo princes are separated at birth and reunited only after a crisis grips the country.
- DirectorJan PinkavaStarsBob PetersonGeri sets up a chess game to play his greatest opponent - himself.
- DirectorJoanna QuinnStarsLenny HenryTom CourtenayDavid RobbTwo children learn their recently deceased cat, was actually a famous rock star in the cat world.
- DirectorSylvain ChometStarsJames PidgeonMichoue SylvainAndrea Usher-JonesIn seductive central Paris, an undernourished gendarme willing to go to great lengths to feed himself hatches a desperate, yet utterly cunning plan.