Reminiscent of a Pixar production, “Même les pigeons vont au paradis” (“Even Pigeons Go to Heaven”) is the first of the five nominees. Directed by Samuel Tourneux, this film is spoken in French, with English subtitles. Without giving the entire movie away, this film is a joy to watch, providing many humorous moments in its short span of time. The story begins with a race between a moped and a priest in a car to the house of Mr. Moulin. After overtaking the moped, the priest arrives at Moulin’s house in time to save him from a potentially fatal fall.
After observing that Moulin has a stash of money concealed in a red sock that falls from the top of a shelf, the priest presents the old man with a machine that will get him into heaven. It soon becomes apparent that the priest’s intentions are far from noble. Fortunately, fate’s ironic sense of humor has a surprise in store for him.
Unlike the first film’s animation style, a second nominee, Russia’s “My Love” looks like a painting come to life. Directed by Aleksandr Petrov, this film based on a novel tells the story of a fickle teenage boy, Anton, caught in a love triangle with two very different women. Anton’s vivid imagination is conveyed through beautiful romantic fantasies about his “goddess” and his family’s maid, Pasha.
Although half of the film takes place in Anton’s mind, “My Love” is a dramatic story about an idealistic boy who comes to the shocking realization that his fantasies don’t translate into reality. Anton constantly switches back and forth between his two loves, unable to make up his mind; his inability to decide between a mysterious older woman and his childhood friend will ultimately be his downfall.
The third film, “Madame Tutli Putli” is a Canadian creation, written and directed by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski. Without using dialogue, this film employs an unusual style of animation to express the characters’ thoughts and emotions. The animation of the title character bears resemblence to Sally’s skeletal appearance in “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
The story begins at a train station, where Madame Tutli Putli waits to board the Night Train, accompanied by all her possessions. She appears to have the weight of the world on her shoulders, with her loneliness clearly visible from her large, expressive eyes. She boards the train, not expecting what’s in store for the journey. It is when the train is taken over by strangers that the plot gets confusing and Madame Tutli Putli gets lost forever in the realm between fantasy and reality.
Like “Madame Tutli Putli,” the fourth nominee, “Peter and the Wolf” contains no dialogue, using animated puppets to remake Sergei Prokofiev’s classic tale. As a joint project between Poland, the United Kingdom and Norway, this 29-minute film directed by Suzie Templeton took five years to make. For this reason alone, the film deserves its win for Best Animated Short Film, although the film has many other worthy qualities.
The story follows a lonely young boy, Peter, whose curiosity leads to the biggest adventure of his life. Because of his protective grandfather, Peter is a loner with a duck as his only companion. In a rebellious fit, Peter decides to break out of the gate which separates him from the forest behind his house. Peter soon learns the reason for his grandfather’s refusing to allow him beyond the fence; the forest posesses many dangers. Peter encounters a sinister wolf, intent on killing anything in its way. To defeat the wolf, Peter must conquer his fears and finally stand up for himself.
The last and shortest film of the bunch, “I Met the Walrus,” combines black and white pen and computer animations to serve as the accomanying imagery to the audio of a famous interview between The Beatles’ John Lennon and a 14-year-old fan, Jerry Levitan. It’s 1969 and Levitan sneaks into Lennon’s Tonoto hotel room, armed with a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Lennon agrees to the interview and Levitan proceeds to question him about his opinion of the war.
Directed by Josh Raskin, this Canadian film is dramatically different from the four other nominees, as it is the only film based on a real occurrence. The simple animation allows viewers to concentrate more on the sincere words being spoken by Lennon, who had an important message promoting peace.