Insignificant and occasionally interesting contributions to the cognition of reality…

Illustration by Andreas Hykade. Courtesy of Chris Robinson.

I’ll be the first to admit that 2002 was not a great year for animation films. There were a number of okay-good-decent works, but nothing that really stood out, nothing that I’ve any real desire to postpone a repeat screening of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Six Feet Under or Hockey Night in Canada for. Nevertheless…there were certainly a handful of films that warranted Oscar nominations over the suspect list of shorts that got the nods. Mt. Head by Koji Yamamura is about the only title (well…okay…maybe I can accept Das Rod) that deserves to be on this list. But are you gonna tell me that this asinine piece of shit called The Chubb Chubbs, a film that only a chair could love, or Mike’s New Car (ha ha…the monster has problems with his car…HA HA HA…oh god that’s so damn original, so clever…and hey…look the blue monster hair is SO REALISTIC) is a better work than Chris Hinton’s Flux, Robert Bradbrook’s Home Road Movies, Jonas Odell’s Family and Friends or Priit Tender’s Mont Blanc? And what of the Mexican puppet film, Close to the Bone? (Yeah…okay…the credits are WAY TOO LONG but still…). Hell, there are festival rejects that are better than most of these nominees.

And hold up…before some of you schmucks start writing in saying…“Come on Pimp, of course the Oscar selection is a joke…what do you expect?” I say, "STOP." I know it’s old hat to bitch and moan about the lack of taste (and yes folks let’s call it for what it is) of the Academy voters, but look…animation fights tooth and nail for exposure and respect…especially festival animation. The Oscars are an important vehicle because they have the power and influence to bring these films to the attention of a much wider audience than either Annecy or Ottawa (for example) can. It’s also important for the animators from a financial perspective. It gives them leverage for future funding. Unfortunately, what the world is seeing is a heavily unbalanced, unfair and watered down to the point of being a desert, competition.

The Cumbersome Process
Okay first things first…according to a couple of Academy voters, this is how the whole process works.

To enter, you must fill out an entry form. Then you have to set up something like two to three public screenings in the Los Angeles area. This isn’t so hard because for a few hundred Yankee green (according to more than a few people, this rate magically rises each year) you can get the Laemmle Theaters to show your work of beauty. BUT HOLD ON…If your entry has won a first prize in a recognized film festival (like…gosh golly gee, that dandy animation event in Ottawa), you receive a ‘buy’ of sorts, meaning you don’t have to worry about a public screening.

Each year a letter is sent to all Academy members of the shorts branch asking them if they want to watch all the entries. Given that the screenings only take place in Los Angeles over the course of many weekends, there ain't many folks outside the L.A. area goin'. This L.A. selection committee (let’s say) composed of maybe 30 boys and girls, watches all the films (so we assume) and narrows the list from about 300 or so entries to, this year, nine films (i.e., the short list).

For a film to make it to the short list it must receive an average vote of 8.5 (6 is the worst, 10 the best). Needless to say, it’s pretty easy for a few malcontent slugs to blacklist a title or two but giving low marks…but hey...we know that there’s no one like that in the L.A. animation community.

Now get this, prior to this year the short list was a poorly kept secret AND the films were ONLY shown in Los Angeles. Fortunately, some knuckleheads pulled their heads out of their asses and set up member screenings in New York and San Francisco (there might even be a London screening too) so that area members could vote. Unlike the animation features category, screeners are not sent to members, they must instead be screened in a theatre to be voted on. (Oh…and apparently Canucks were invited to New York but none were able to make the ten hour drive.)