This is your annual chance to predict the winners (and have the edge in your Oscar pool)! A perennial hit with audiences around the country and the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts. The Academy Awards take place Sunday, March 2.
2025 ANIMATED OSCAR SHORTS PROGRAM LINEUP (Running time: 90 minutes)
Magic Candies – Daisuke Nishio, 21 min., Japan (in Japanese)
The other kids at the park never ask Dong-Dong to play. But he’s fine just playing marbles on his own. One day he goes out in search of new marbles, but ends up buying a bag of colorful, marble-shaped candies instead. But the first time he pops one of them into his mouth, he’s astonished to hear his old sofa start talking to him! For the next few minutes, until the candy melts away, he has the most unexpected and amazing conversation of his life. Realizing that these are no ordinary candies, Dong-Dong looks at the rest of colorful sweets. Who else will he be able to talk to, and what else will he learn, through these magic candies?
In the Shadow of the Cypress – Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani, 20 min., Iran (no dialogue)
Living in a house by the sea with his daughter, a former captain who has post-traumatic stress disorder leads a tough and secluded life.
Yuck! – Loïc Espuche, 13 min., France (in French)
Yuck! Adults kiss each other on the mouth, and children find it disgusting! What’s more, you can see it from afar: when people are about to kiss, their lips become all pink and shiny. Little Léo makes jokes about it, as do the other kids at the summer camp. But he has a secret he won’t tell his friends: his own mouth has actually begun glistening. And, in reality, Léo desperately wants to give kissing a try.
Note: A brief message will appear before Wander to Wonder and Beautiful Men: “The following films include nudity, and may not be appropriate for audiences under 14 years old.”
Wander to Wonder – Nina Gantz, 13 min., Netherlands/Belgium/France/UK (in English)
Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton are three tiny humans who star in a kids’ TV Series called “Wander to Wonder”. After the creator dies, they are left alone in the studio. Struggling to find enough to eat, they continue to make increasingly strange episodes for their fans.
Beautiful Men – Nicolas Keppens, 19 min., Belgium/France/Netherlands (in Flemish, Dutch, Turkish, and English)
Three balding brothers travel to Istanbul to get a hair transplant. Stuck with each other in a hotel far from home, their insecurities grow faster than their hair.
