Completed Category: Short Film (Animated)

 And now I'm done with all the Shorts!  Saw the Animateds yesterday. 

And guess what - regarding the question of which of this year's set of Shorts is clearly better or worse than another set of Shorts, I was actually good with all the Live Action and most of the Animated. And most of the Documentary Shorts. So basically, there was no omg-wtf set this year. 

That's not to say there weren't some heavy topics!  I'll keep my thoughts short, since the Shorts were short. (Which is how I like my Animation, by the way.) 

OUR UNIFORM:  I was into this and then it ended too abruptly.  It's a kind of meditation about how girls are forced to wear the hijab (nowadays) in Iran and at the beginning there was a disclaimer of no offense to anyone who chooses to wear hijab but that this was about the experience of being forced to wear it in a certain place. Eye roll. 

LETTER TO A PIG: This is a meditation on .. a lot of things. Including escaping death, but also war and pigs (not War Pigs though) and some other stuff.  I want to watch this again and maybe again and again. 

There was no disclaimer of no offense to anyone who has not hidden in a pig sty. 

PACHYDERME: This was creepy as f*ck. I do not want to watch it again and again. There was no disclaimer of no offense to anyone who had a positive experience in a house with an elephant tusk on display. 

NINETY-FIVE SENSES:  I did watch this one twice. (It's available online and I also saw the group of Shorts in the theatre.) I like this one a lot too. It is heavy. It is also about being alive in a way unlike anything I've ever seen before. It kinda sneaks up on you of how good it is.  There was no disclaimer of no offense to people who do not have five senses. 

WAR IS OVER! INSPIRED BY THE MUSIC OF JOHN & YOKO: It's about war.  I liked it a lot! I was thinking it was the best and might win until I walked out of the theatre and heard two people complaining that it was the worst of the five. What!? It was so good. War is bad. Chess and birds and cease-fires are good. There was no disclaimer of no offense to the wars that are not over. 

Order I want them to win:  top 3 might as well be a tie

Ninety-Five Senses
War Is Over! Inspired By the Music of John & Yoko
Letter To A Pig

then Our Uniform
then big gap then Pachyderme

Order I think they will win: 
I am pretty sure this category is one of my worst in terms of predictions? Sadly I don't keep stats so we'll never know but that is my impression. Once in a while I get it right. Hmmmmm... 

probably War Is Over! Inspired By the Music of John & Yoko? 

maybe Ninety-Five Senses? 
maybe Our Uniform? 

maybe Letter to a Pig  which was weird but I loved it
please not Pachyderme

Have you gone to see the Animated Shorts at your local cinema? 

There's also a Highly Commended but not nominated one that was kinda like The Shape of Water 🤣🐟 except about real fish - sort of.   Animators sure can do weird stuff!