The Oscar Nominated Shorts of 2014 (Who Will Probably Win & Who Should Win)

Why is the statue called Oscar anyway?

The Oscars are fast approaching with a live screening set for March 2nd. While the Oscars are and have always been biased towards certain films (specifically English speaking ones usually produced by major Hollywood studios or well known directors), they have become increasingly popular and prestigious. The movies nominated for best picture always get lots of fanfare, but films in other categories are sometimes overlooked.

The short film categories often suffer from this. This is shame because they are a great way to showcase talents from across the globe. Because they cost significantly less to produce they can vary greatly in their subject matter and style. While some of them are made by larger studios, many of them are not and are very personal films made by small independent creators/companies passionate about the medium.

The Oscar nominated animated shorts from last year.

For those of you who have yet to see them, the Oscar nominated animated shorts this year, are overall, a pretty solid bunch. The nominees include a Disney short, three entries from Europe, an anime, and an independently produced short. If you happen to attend the screening of the nominees at your local theater, you will probably notice that the program also includes three honorable mentions which were not nominated for the Oscars. Fortunately, they are also fairly enjoyable as well. (Unfortunately, the animated shorts are 'hosted' between each segment by two obnoxiously unfunny CGI animals. But, hey, at least the awards aren't being hosted by Seth MacFarlane again this year.) So without a further ado, here are some brief reviews (and winner predictions) for the nominees and honorable mentions for the Best Animated Short of 2014.

The Nominees

Get a Horse!

Director: Lauren Macmullan
Company: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Country: USA

Get a Horse is a throwback to Disney's original rubber-hose Mickey Mouse shorts from the early 1930s with a twist. When Peg Leg Pete attempts to run a hay wagon off the road, Mickey and Horace are forced out of the movie screen and into the theater, becoming CGI colored versions of themselves. Horace and Mickey then battle Pete, who has kidnapped Minnie, by finding ways to interfere with movie playing on screen. While the premise is a bit gimmicky and not entirely original, (Tex Avery loved inserting self aware sight gags into his cartoons, and Get a Horse bears some resemblance to Osamu Tezuka's 1985 short, Broken Down Film) the film has been made with so much love and passion it is hard not to smile at the character's antics.

Get a Horse is not necessarily the best nominee, but it has already become an audience favorite, having won the Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject and being nominated for Best Animated Film at the San Diego Film Critics Society. More than likely it will probably win the Academy Award. Get a Horse also features original voice recordings from the 1930s, marks the first appearance of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in a Disney cartoon in over 84 years, and is the first Disney production to be directed solely by a female animator.

Rating: 3.5

Mr. Hublot

Directors: Laurent Witz & Alexandre Espigares
Company: ZEILT Productions, WATT Frame
Country: France

Mr. Hublot moves at a far more leisurely pace than Get a Horse and has no dialogue. However, this largely aids the film rather than hindering it. The short follows a little mechanical man who lives in a Victorian era steampunk-like society. But Mr. Hublot largely chooses to ignore the beautifully rendered CGI/ stop-motion animated landscapes around him. Instead, he focuses intently on his work, preferring the company of his typewriter indoors rather than socializing with others. One day, his work is disrupted after he discovers a small robotic puppy abandoned outside his apartment. Mr. Hublot takes pity on the creature and adopts it. Eventually the puppy grows into a huge dog, and Mr. Hublot is faced with a difficult decision: Should he keep his pet / only friend and allow it to disrupt his work? Or should he get rid off it?

Mr. Hublot is a charming short. Although the story is a bit familiar, the short's animation is very distinctive and Mr. Hublot's apparent OCD is very relatable in our day and age. While not as likely to win the AA as Get a Horse, this film has a bit more substance to it. I would love to see what the short's creators do next.

Rating: 4/5

Feral 

Director: Daniel Sousa
Company: SousaAnimation
Country: USA

Feral greatly contrasts from the other contestants mentioned so far. It is not cute, funny, or heartfelt, but it is a rather mature, gloomy piece. The short tackles a difficult, yet intriguing subject with no clear answers: How would a feral child react if suddenly he or she were suddenly placed back into society? The huntsman who discovers the lost boy in the film certainly thinks that he is helping the child by reintroducing him to his 'proper place' in society. But the audience is left unsure, especially after they see the boy alienated by his strange new environment. The boy tries to adjust by using the same methods that kept him safe in the woods, but is teased by his peers and misunderstood by others. Feral ends openly with the boy running back towards the forest.

The short is quite ambitious and manages to tell its story with little to no dialogue, but, unfortunately, it can be difficult to understand at times due to its level of abstraction. Feral is indeed beautiful to look at, but feels a bit unevenly paced and may leave its audience cold. Still, one has to admire the efforts of Daniel Sousa's creation as he created almost entirely by himself.

Rating: 3/5

Possessions

Director: Shuhei Morita
Company: Sunrise
Country: Japan

Possessions is perhaps the most unique of all of the nominees and bears a couple of distinctions. It is the first anime film to be nominated that has not been directed by Hayao Miyazaki and its animation is blend of both cel shaded characters and traditional background art. The film's director, Shuhei Morita, is perhaps best known for his half-an-hour ghost story film, Kakurenbo ['Hide and Seek']. (It should also be noted that Possessions was originally part of an anime anthology film, Short Peace, which contained three other shorts including the award winning Combustible.)

In Possessions, a traveler comes across a shrine when he tries to find shelter from pouring rain. He decides to spend the night there, but notices that the shrine is full of neglected items. According to Japanese legend, abandoned items will come to life after one hundred years have passed. The umbrellas, kimonos, and other objects attempt to scare off their unwanted guest. However, the man decides to mend all of the tarnished objects instead and is rewarded for his efforts. Possessions may be more unusual then some of the other candidates, but there is still a small chance it could win. After all, Miyazaki's Spirited Away won Best Animated feature back in 2002 (making it the only anime film to do so so far).

Rating: 4/5

Room on the Broom

Directors: Jan Lachauer & Max Lang
Company: Magic Light Pictures
Country: UK

Easily the cutest entry on the list, Room on the Broom is based on a picture book by Julia Donaldson. The short also sports a well known cast, featuring the voices of Gillian Anderson, Rob Brydon, and Martin Clunes among others. Like Mr. Hublot, Room on the Broom blends several animation mediums (specifically models for the sets, CGI for the characters, and traditional animation for fire and water effects). This gives the film its own unique look, which is refreshing in this age where everybody seems to try and copy Pixar's style.

The short itself, is of course, aimed primarily at children, but is actually the longest nominee running at about half an hour. It manages to keep audiences of all ages alike amused with its gentle humor and rhyme filled narration. Room on the Broom is about a kindly witch who flies around with her grumpy cat in tow. The witch keeps dropping things, but the objects are always found by a forest animal. The witch always invites them to ride on the broom with her, despite her cat's protests. However, the broom eventually becomes to heavy to float and the witch runs into trouble with a hungry dragon. While nothing complex is offered in this short, it is quite enjoyable and certainly will please young ones and their families.

Rating: 4/5

The Honorable Mentions

A La Francaise 

Directors: Morrigane Boyer, Julien Hazebroucq, Ren-Hsien Hsu, Emmanuelle Leleu, William Lorton
Company: Supinfocom Arles Animation Film School
Country: France

A la Francaise is sort of a one trick pony. The short is about a bunch of pompous 18th century aristocrats attending a party at Louis XIV's palace…except that they all happen to be chickens. That's about it. Most of the gags actually tend to be pretty funny though and occasionally even a little risqué. The plot becomes increasingly chaotic and disorganized after a hen writing down all of the details about the party loses her papers, which fly throughout the ballroom and start offending all of the guests.

The biggest letdown of this short, however, is its very unsatisfying ending. The audience doesn't even get to see Louis XIV's full reaction to the disasters occurring around him. Still, there is much to be admired about this short on a technical level, given that it is CGI student film that was worked on by only handful of people over the course of three years. It's apparent why A la Francaise wasn't nominated, but it was rightfully given an honorable mention.

Rating: 3/5

The Missing Scarf

Director: Eoin Duffy
Company: Belly Creative Inc.
Country: Ireland

The Missing Scarf is one of those films that takes all of your expectations then completely subverts them in the best possible way. The short begins like a typical children's story. Narrated calmly by George Takei, it tells the tale of Albert, an optimistic squirrel, who has lost his scarf. Albert goes to the woods to search for it, but meets several other animals who have problems of their own (such as an owl who is afraid of the dark and a fox who fears being disliked by others). Albert gives each of them advice about how to deal with their problems, however the short becomes subtly darker as time goes on. So much so that even the bear's troubling existentialist question may not seem as impractical as it sounds.

The Missing Scarf's animation, done in a combination of Adobe Flash and Blender, suits the style of the film well. It is simple and to the point. The cute character designs also greatly contrast with the black humor at The Missing Scarf's ending. Personally, I think this short should have also been nominated, but The Missing Scarf was probably too unorthodox for the Academy's tastes. Their loss.

Rating: 4/5

The Blue Umbrella 

Director: Saschka Unsled
Company: Pixar
Country: USA

Many people where surprised when they discovered that Pixar received no nominations this year, not just for their main feature, Monsters University, but also for for their short, The Blue Umbrella. In the case of The Blue Umbrella, however, it is pretty apparent to see why it wasn't nominated. There is nothing wrong with the film, in fact it contains some beautiful CGI effects and utilizes some really creative animation on various inanimate street objects. However, The Blue Umbrella fails to offer its audience anything that they haven't already seen before.

The story is cute (involving a male blue umbrella who gets separated from his love interest, a red female umbrella), but it bares an uncanny resemblance to the 1954 Disney short, Jonny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet, and is rather predictable. The animation on the umbrellas is also somewhat disappointing. The drawn on cartoon faces simply don't blend very well with the short's otherwise photorealistic style.

Rating: 3/5

10 Notable Female Animators

Outside of acting, relatively few women get recognized for their efforts in the film industry. This is particularly noticeable in the animation field. While things have certainly improved since the earlier half of the 20th century (where a women had little hope of doing anything but inking, painting, or in-betweening), it is still far more common for female animators and directors to work independently, rather than within the studio system. Female comic book artists are also more common, perhaps for the same reason. Many of them (such as Kaja Foglio [Girl Genius], Kate Beaton [Hark! A Vagrant], and Tracy J. Butler [Lackadaisy]) have met great success 'publishing' on the internet. While women still aren't nearly as common as male cartoonists, they have began to appear in larger numbers in recent years. Below is a list of the ten notable female animators that helped pave way for other artists in the field.

1. Lotte Reiniger

Reiniger's complex stop-motion technique is based on Chinese shadow puppets.

Lotte Reiniger is commonly acknowledged not only as the first significant female animator, but also as a pioneering stop-motion animator. Lotte grew up in Berlin and first became fascinated with film after seeing the works of Georges Melies. In 1918, she was assigned her first major job, animating the wooden rats created for the intertitles for Paul Wegener's The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Shortly after, Reiniger began directing her own short films in her trademark silhouette cutout fashion. She directed seven shorts between 1919 and 1922, which were produced and photographed by her husband, Carl Koch.

After three years of hard work, her feature length film The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) was finally released, beating out Snow White by over a decade. The film was loosely based on One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, and met enough success to allow Lotte to direct a second feature, Doctor Dolittle and his Animals, in 1928. Unfortunately, Lotte and her family were forced to flee Germany after the Nazi regime took control. She lived out the rest of her years in Paris and in London, were she continued to make short fairytale films for advertising companies, BBC, and Telecasting America.

Prince Achmed is the oldest surviving animated film.

2. Lillian Friedman Astor

Friedman was one the first women to work at a major animation studio.

When Lillian Friedman Astor was rejected by Disney, she was not deterred. Instead, she applied to rival studio Fleisher Brothers in 1930 at the age of 19. Within three years, she was 'secretly' promoted from the lowly rank of inker to head animator by Shamus Culhane. She was responsible for animating many key scenes in the popular Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons, as well as several Comicolor titles. Her work includes: "Can You Take It?" (1934), "Betty Boop's Prize Show" (1934), "Be Human" (1936), "Hawaiian Birds" (1936), "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor" (1936) and "Pudgy and the Lost Kitten" (1938).

Although she didn't always receive screen credit and was paid considerably less than her male counterparts, Friedman was apparently very pleased to have a job at Fleisher. So much so in fact, she was rumored to have named her dog Popeye! In 1939, Freedman retired from animating in order to raise her family. Despite her short career, she inspired several others to follow her footsteps and not to be afraid to showcase their talents in a traditionally male run profession.

The classic cartoon "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor".

3. Mary Blair

While technically not an animator, Mary Blair hugely influenced the look of many classic Disney films. 

Perhaps no other women at Disney was as well recognized as Mary Blair. She first began working at Disney in 1940 alongside her husband Lee Blair, after previously working at Ub Iwerks Studio and Harman-Ising Studios. Unlike other female employees at Disney at the time (such as Retta Scott and Retta Davidson), Mary Blair was a concept artist and a scenery designer. Blair's art is characterized by her bold use of colors, angular forms, patterns, and simplified shapes. Her style was heavily influenced by her 1941 trip to various South American countries with other Disney artists, as part of Roosevelt's 'Good Neighbor Policy.'

Her designs and storyboards were crucial in the process of creating several animated features including: The Three Caballeros (1944), Song of the South (1946), Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953). After briefly resigning from Disney after Peter Pan and working as a childern's book illustrator, Mary Blair helped create the It's a Small World attraction for Disneyland in 1964. Additionally, she created several murals for the theme park up until 1971. For those interested, much of Blair's artwork can be viewed here.

A sampling of Blair's unique concept art.

4. Faith Hubley

Faith and her husband, John, reviving an oscar in 1966. 

Faith Hubley began working in the film industry at only 15, when she left home to work in a theater. She made her way to Hollywood three years later. Her first job was as a messenger for Columbia Pictures. Later, Faith worked at Republic Pictures, where she became a music editor and scripts clerk. In 1955, she married animator John Hubley, who had previously worked for Disney and UPA. Soon after, they founded their own independent company, Storyboard Studios. The goal of the studio was to produce one film per year. Both Faith and John made a total of 20 shorts together, between 1957 to 1977.

These films met much acclaim due to their free-form visuals and use of dialogue from actual childern (usually their own), as opposed to using adult actors. Indeed, much of the dialogue in their shorts is nonlinear in nature, and often focuses on relishing things in life that some might consider mundane. The best known shorts the two made are arguably "Moonbird" (1959), "The Hole" (1962), "A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature" (1966), and "Windy Day", all of which won or received Oscar nominations. When John died in 1977, Faith continued to make films on her own up until her own death in 2001. (It should also be noted that Tissa David [who was the second female animator to direct a feature film, and animated the female lead in Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure] frequently worked with the Hubleys.)

A still from "Windy Day" (1967) demonstrating the Hubleys' minimalist style. 

5. Sally Cruikshank

Quite possibly the most abstract animator on this list, Cruikshank's films are like no other.

Sally Cruikshank's work is undeniably weird, but extremely creative and mesmerizing. She was drawn to animation at a young age, citing the surreal 1930s shorts of the Fleisher Brothers, Bob Clampett, and Carl Barks's comics as influences. After completing her education at Smith College and thoroughly studying an animation book by Preston Blair, Cruikshank released her first piece in 1971, the three minute "Ducky". Encouraged by feedback from her peers, Cruikshank enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute. After graduating, she produced her most well known short, "Quasi at the Quackadero" (1975), which features two of Cruikshank's reoccurring characters, the infantile Quasi and the temperamental Anita. In 2009, "Quasi" was added to the National Film Registry, and it was voted #46 in the 1994 book, The Fifty Greatest Cartoons.

Cruikshank produced several other surreal short films during the 1970s and 1980s, including "Make Me Psychic" (1978) and "Face Like A Frog" (1988). In 1980, she proposed an animated feature about her duck-like character entitled Quasi's Cabaret, but the project was ultimately abandoned due to funding issues. However, Cruikshank is fondly remembered by many Gen X'ers for an entirely different reason: she animated several segments for the program Sesame Street.

Cruikshank explains her animation process.

6. Ellen Woodbury

Woodbury working at Disney Studios.

Ellen Woodbury made history in 1994, when she became the first woman animator at Disney to supervise a major character. When Woodbury first entered the field of animation, things looked pretty grim. In the early 1980s, very few studios produced films or television series beyond simplistic children's entertainment. Thus, Woodbury was stuck at the uninspiring Filmation. In 1985, her talent was noticed, and Woodbury moved to Disney. She started as a cleanup artist on The Great Mouse Detective, and eventually was promoted to animator on Oliver and Company and The Little Mermaid. Soon after, she animated several iconic Disney characters including Abu (Aladdin, 1992), Zazu (The Lion King, 1994), and Pegasus (Hercules, 1998). In 2005, Woodbury left Disney and became a full time sculptor. She currently teaches character animation at the Art Institute of Colorado. (Anyone who would like to read more about Woodbury can visit the blog, The 50 Most Influential Disney animators, here.)

A model sheet of Abu for Aladdin. 

7. Suzie Templeton

Never heard of her? She's one of the most talented stop-motion artists around.

Perhaps no other career is as time consuming as being a stop-motion animator. Up until a few years ago (thanks to the invention of 3D printers), the average stop-motion film took around five years to make. For this very reason, the technique is less commonly used than other forms of animation. Yet a handful of artists have perfected the craft. One of them is Suzie Templeton.

Interestingly enough, Templeton was not originally inserted in becoming an animator. Although she helped her brothers make several homemade movies during her childhood, Templeton graduated in sciences and held odd jobs in different countries for several years. Dissatisfied, she went back to school and switched to humanities. It was only after seeing Wallace and Gromit, that Templeton entered the realm of animation.

Although she originally planned to work for commercial studios like Aardman, Templeton found the studio model incompatible with her style. So she decided to work independently on more personal projects, than to appeal to the masses. (Perhaps this is because her films tend to deal with dense subjects, such as unhappy marriage, loneliness, and death.) Templeton completed two short films at her university, the Royal College of Art, "Stanley" (1999) and "Dog" (2001), which met much acclaim. In 2006, Templeton released her take on "Peter and the Wolf", a half an hour testament of her skill. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Currently, Templeton is working on an undisclosed feature film.

All of Templeton's puppets are extremely detailed.

8. Nina Paley

Independent animator, cartoonist, and free culture activist.

Nina Paley is one of the most active female animators today. She made several short films starting at the age of 13, but did not really begin experimenting with animation until 1998, after she published two moderately successful comic strips, Nina's Adventures and Fluff. Some of her shorts made during this period include: "Pandorama" (1999), the world's first camera-less IMAX film, "Fetch!" (2001), a humorous take on optical illusions, and "The Stork" (2002), a commentary about overpopulation and consumerism.

In 2008, Paley generated much attention for her first feature film, Sita Sings the Blues, which interprets the Indian epic The Ramayana from Sita's perspective and compares it to Paley's own marriage struggles. Due to issues with clearing rights for the film's soundtrack, Paley has often criticized the inefficiency of copyright laws. (Perhaps this best demonstrated by her short, "Copying is Not Theft" [2009]). Currently, Paley writes the comic-strip Mimi and Eunice, and is working on a second film entitled Seder Masochism.

In order to fiancee her projects, Paley works as freelance artist. Notably, she designed the Cruzio Wireless cat logo. Paley is entirely self taught. Although she studied art at the University of Illinois, she never took any formal animation classes. Her work may seem simplistic from a technical standpoint, but her attention to detail and sense of composition makes up for it. Paley boldly tackles many controversial topics that many other animators and directors tend to gloss over or avoid, but she does so without being overly mean spirited and with a good dosage of humor.  

Sita Sings the Blues proves that even Flash animation can be used creatively.

9. Brenda Chapman

Chapman is likely the best known female animator today, thanks to Brave (and the controversy surrounding it).

Brenda Chapman has certainly been in the news a lot lately, but her career in film stretches back to 1989, when she worked as a story trainee on Disney's The Little Mermaid after graduating from CalArts with BFA in character animation. Chapman served as a writer and storyboard artist for many renaissance films, such as Beauty and the Beast (1991), The Lion King (1994), and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). She also worked on several DreamWorks films and co-diercted The Prince of Egypt (1997), making her the first woman to direct an animated feature at a major studio.

In 2003, Brenda moved to Pixar. Five years later, it was announced that she was to direct the company's first fairytale film, The Bear and the Bow, which eventually was renamed Brave. However, Chapman was removed as director due to creative disagreements, and replaced by Mark Andrews. Despite her dissatisfaction with her removal (and move to LucasArts), Brenda was happy with the film's results, and how it remained loyal to the mother-daughter relationship she wanted to portray.

Some impressive concept art for Brave.

10. Lauren MacMullan

Lauren Macmullan (right) with producer Dorothy McKim (left) at the D23 expo. 

Macmullan has directed and storyboarded for several companies over the years. Her speciality seems to be writing for television shows, as she has worked on The Critic, The Simpsons, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, which are some of the most widely acclaimed animated series ever made. Her first venture into film was The Simpsons Movie (2007), where she served as the feature's sequence director.

In 2009, Lauren began creating storyboards for the proposed Pixar film, Newt. Unfortunately, Newt never saw the light of day, due to concerns about its plot being too similar to two other animated films coming out the same year. Lauren Macmullan now seems to be content working at Disney for the time being. She storyboarded Wreck it Ralph (2012), and recently directed a short film starring Mickey Mouse, "Get a Horse!"

Macmullan is known for her use of dramatic lighting and complex facial expressions, two aspects which can often get overlooked in TV animation. Coincidentally, there are two other recent female animators of note that go by the name of Lauren: Lauren Montgomery (Avatar: The Last Airbender, Wonder Woman) and Lauren Faust (The Powerpuff Girls, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic).

This Mickey Mouse short will screen alongside Frozen in November.

Russian Masterpieces: Short Films from the Top of the World

Visually elaborate?  Possesses a dreamlike quality? Moves at a tranquil pace? It must be a Russian cartoon! 

Several Russian animated productions have been showcased on this blog before, including the work of Yuri Norstein, the ever popular Cheburashka series, and the 1957 film, The Snow Queen. Although the golden years of Soviet era animation are long gone and the former studio giant, Soyuzmultfilm, is plagued with problems, an occasional high profile product still comes out once in a while.

Truly, it's a shame that much of Russia's output from the 1950s through the 1980s is ignored here in the West, no doubt due to tense political misgivings between the country and the United States. Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of Russian animation is not propaganda. It covers a wide variety of genres, ranging from family aimed fantasies to complex adult dramas. Most of this animation is highly lyrical in style, is artistically unique, and quite often contains social commentary. Interestingly enough, cartoon television series never really caught on in Russia (save for foreign exports) and animated features became increasingly less common in the second half of the 20th century. Short films were the preferred format, and it has been argued by some that animators living during this period perfected it.

Below, I have complied a list of ten notable (and often overlooked) Russian shorts from over the years with English subtitles. Enjoy! 

1. The Golden Antelope (1954)

This half an hour short practically plays out like a feature film. "The Golden Antelope" is notable for being directed by Lev Atamonov, who was one of the best known and most respected animators in his homeland. He was very active during the second era of Soviet animation. This era strove to reach a sense of 'fairytale realism' in a similar vein to that of Disney. (Later, Russia would begin to distinguish itself from Western cartoons by producing more ethically inspired works.) Unlike Disney, however, Atamonov's films tend to be closer to their source material. They have a crisp, simplified design to them which greatly influenced future anime directors, including Hayao Miyazaki.

"The Golden Antelope" is about an impoverished but kindhearted Indian boy. He helps an antelope escape from a band of hunters lead by a greedy raja. The raja wants to capture the antelope because she produces gold coins whenever she taps her hooves. The golden antelope is so grateful to the boy, that she promises to protect him. The antelope later must journey with the boy to the palace of the raja, after it is discovered that the boy hid her.

At its heart, "The Golden Antelope" is a moral story about the virtues of humbleness and how wealth can corrupt. Indeed, the raja is so selfish, that he initially considers giving the boy a gold coin, but then reconsiders and simply 'lets the boy live'. On the other hand, the boy shows no interest in obtaining riches. He is completely unswayed by the offers made by the raja and his servants. His friendship with the antelope and the compassion he shows to the other jungle animals ultimately is rewarded, whereas the raja almost becomes buried alive in coins, due to his insatiable greed.

2. The Mitten (1967)

After years of working at Soyuzmultfilm, Roman Kachanov, made his first big break with this charming little film. In "The Mitten", a girl desires to have a puppy of her own after watching various people play with their dogs outside on a snowy day. However, her mother is not so keen on the idea. The girl resolves the issue by imagining that her mitten is actually a small red puppy. She even enters her mitten into a dog contest, which results in an interesting turn of events.

This stop-motion short proves that one does not need to use dialogue (or have a high budget) to create something memorable. In fact, the short's simple yet focused plot has much more heart than many of this year's expensive blockbusters do. Its musical score and character interactions easily rival any of the material that Rankin / Bass put out during the same time period.

3. Ballerina on a Boat (1969) 

One of Lev Atamonov's later works, "Ballerina on a Boat" marked a significant departure in the style of Russian animation. As with many countries during the 1960s, Russian animation became increasingly more abstract in style and began dealing with a wider range of topics. The animation is somewhat reminiscent Ludwig Bemelman's Madeline books. Most of the short's characters, particularly the sailors, are drawn in a very boxy, geometrical manner. On the other hand, the titular ballerina is very willowy, weightless, and drawn with fine lines.

As with, "The Mitten", "Ballerina on a Boat" is wordless, but conveys much emotion based upon its classical score and use of body language. The plot revolves around a young ballerina who barely manages to catch a ride on a passenger ship. Once on board, she entertains the ship's captain and crew and makes their work considerably less dull. (There is a running gag of several sailors falling overboard, after failing to mimic the ballerina's movements.) The ballerina is so engrossed with her dancing, that she is seemingly oblivious to all around her. Her actions start to annoy the crew who become concerned about her safety. However, the ballerina later proves her usefulness when she assists the sailors manning the ship in a fierce storm.

4. Winnie the Pooh (1969 -1972, 3 episodes)

Although the Soviet version of Winnie the Pooh is not as well known as the Disney version, it is perhaps the most heartfelt and personal adaptation of the classic childern's story. Fyoder Khitruk, who had previously produced the more adult "The Story of a Crime" (1962) and the satirical "Film, Film, Film" (1968), is a very competent director. He really encouraged his fellow colleges to develop their own unique visuals. This is clearly displayed in his Winnie the Pooh series. The series's backgrounds resemble childern's crayon drawings crossed with traditional folk art. Each character is drawn in a simplified, yet appealing manner.

Although relatively close to his source material, Khitruk took a few liberties, sprinkled with Russian flavor. Winnie the Pooh is not drawn as stuffed doll, but rather as a brown bear. (Khitruk claimed that brown bears were more familiar than teddybears to Russian childern at the time.) Owl is portrayed as female and there is no Christopher Robbin in sight. As the series finished before reaching all of the original book's chapters, Tigger does not appear either. However, the events that take place in the series (such as Winnie trying to steal honey from bees, being 'invited' into Rabbit's house, or trying to cheer up Eeyore) should be immediately recognizable to anybody who has read the books or seen the Disney version. To watch the next two episodes of the series, "Winnie the Pooh Goes Visiting" and "Winnie the Pooh and a Day of Concerns", click on their titles.

5. A Kitten Named Woof (1976- 1982, 5 episodes)

"A Kitten Named Woof" was the last production Lev Atamonov directed before he passed away in 1981. The series's last episode was released posthumously and dedicated in Atamonov's memory. Woof's household adventures usually involve him having to learn about many things, such as why the moon has a reflection and that snow is wet. Being a kitten, Woof is a very curious, albeit quite naive about the world around him.

Woof gave himself his own name because he likes the way it sounds, much to the dismay of a black alley cat. The alley cat acts as Woof's occasional mentor, although he will steal food from Woof and will bully him with little hesitation. Woof must also beware of a grumpy old dog, who hates cats and prefers the company of his bones over anything else. Woof is best friends with a small black and white puppy, Ballon, who bears a striking resemblance to Little Golden Book's The Pocky Little Puppy.

This series is very cute, but manages not to be overly so. This is due to "A Kitten Named Woof" using dialogue in a manner which real childern speak. Unlike some other childern's programs, this one is not taxing for parents to watch with their kids. The series's format is quite unique. Each episode is divided into three short vignettes, each with a self contained story. (Save for the last episode.) The next four episodes can be found here.

6.Vasilissa the Beautiful (1977)

Youtube has removed the English subbed version. A translation can be found here for those curious.

Heavily influenced by the art nouveau illustrator, Ivan Bilibin, "Vasilissa the Beautiful" (director: Vladimir Pekar) harkens back to the older folktale films more commonly made by Soyuzmultfilm twenty years earlier. An old king tells his sons that they must find themselves a bride to marry. Whoever finds the most industrious, kindest  and most beautiful women shall become the next ruler. Each son fires an arrow into an open field. Where ever the arrow lands they shall find a wife. Unfortunately, for the youngest son, Ivan, his arrow is caught by a small, green frog. But the frog is actually a women named Vasilissa, who uses her guise to test Ivan's loyalty.

Quite easily one of the most beautiful shorts ever animated, "Vasilissa the Beautiful's" distinctive visuals are quite unlike any other cartoon ever produced. "Vasilissa's" plot is nothing complex, but it manages to hold its self together due to its clever writing and various references to traditional Russian culture.

7. The Firing Range (1977)

Anatoly Petrov's "The Firing Range" (aka "Polygon") is a powerful anti-war science fiction story about the dangers of going to far with revenge. Quite a lot darker than some of the previous entries on this list, the ten minute film takes place on the African coast. A scientist is meeting there with a military power to showcase his invention, an automatic tank that reacts to hostility and fear. The tank was initially invented to end human conflict. But the scientist is bitter and weary from war, after the loss of his son in combat. He successfully manages to turn the machine on all of the generals and high ranking military officials at the meeting, but ends up losing his own life in turn. The presence of everyone at the meeting is erased, and only the native peoples are left alongside the tank. Their childern play on it, unaware of its terrible capabilities, and thus safe.

Also of note, is "The Firing Range's" unique animation style. It is quite realistic, and in places resembles rotoscoping. The technique is called photographica, which consists of layering two celluloids on each character. Each layer has a specific color scheme that creates the illusion of three dimensional rendering, despite that no CGI is used.

8. The Passage (1988)

Although Vladimir Tarasov directed a few episodes of the relatively accessible and family friendly Nu, Pogodi! cartoons, his more personal work is often quite strange but expertly drawn. His films commonly involved lonely protagonists trying to live the best they can in difficult situations. "The Passage" ("Pereval") is based upon a sci-fi story by acclaimed Russian author Kir Bulychov. It is set on a distant planet where a sole spacecraft crashed sixteen years earlier. The inhabitants of the ship were forced to evacuate do to high radiation levels. Now with few survivors left, three young teenagers who were born on this world (Oleg, Dick, and Mariana) must cross a treacherous mountain pass in order to return to the crash site. They must brave the elements and fight off wild animals, in order to get more supplies and alert Earth of their presence.

While certainly not a perfect film, there is something quite compelling about "Pereval's" freeform strangeness and surreal landscapes. Its limited color scheme, sparse dialogue, and engrossing storyline really draw the viewer into an another reality. The perseverance of the main characters is also quite admirable. Still, one is left to wonder what the short could have been like, if it had managed to squeeze in more details or clarify a few aspects within its half an hour run time.

9. The Old Man and the Sea (1999)

Outside of Yuri Norstein, no Russian director has created such time consuming and technically advanced work as Alexander Petrov. Petrov is one of the few animators in the post-Soviet era to produce a significant body of work. His impressionist paint-on-glass technique has won him numerous awards and his skill is unmatched by the few other filmmakers that utilize the same style. Every individual frame in his films is a piece of artwork within itself.

"The Old Man and the Sea", adapted from the novel of the same name, is Petrov's best known work in the West. The short follows the reminiscences and experiences of an old man named Santiago, who spends much of his time alone in the ocean, usually without catching a thing. Santiago often shares his past experiences with his young apprentice, Mandolin, despite that the boy's parents forbid their child to go out in the ocean. One day, Santiago tries to reel in a large marlin. The fish gets away and Santiago makes it his goal to capture it. "The Old Man and the Sea" moves at a gentle pace, with almost a dreamlike quality. This small Youtube upload does not due the film its proper justice.

10. The Dog Door (2007) 

Youtube has removed the video. It can be watched on Dailymotion here.

"The Dog Door" is easily one of the best (if not the best) production to come out of post-Soviet Russia in recent years. Produced by Animos Studios and directed by Natalia Malgina, it follows the hardships of a small pack of dogs living in a ravine. Proud is the leader of the strays which consists of a puppy, a former pet dachshund, a cranky mutt, and the old schnauzer, Lame. The pack is in search of an object called the dog door, which Lame says will lead them to a better life. Proud manages to befriend a poor artist, and often seeks advice from the comically overweight siamese cat, Yamamoto. But, the wellbeing of the pack is continually disturbed by development, and tractors threaten to fill in the ravine.

"The Dog Door" is often very touching and sweet, but it is quite sad. The short often hints at nostalgia for better times, poverty is seen to be rampant, and problems that modern Russia faces often appear on screen. However, this short also stresses the importance of hope, and how even when things seem the worst, we must continue to live.