The Oscar Shorts 2012 (Live Action)

Total runtime approximately 110 min. Program may include additional "Highly Commended" films not listed here.

PENTECOST

When Damian is forced to serve as an altar boy at an important mass in his local parish, he faces a difficult choice: conform to the status quo, or serve an extended ban from his life's passion — football.

DIR Peter McDonald, Eimear O'Kane. Ireland, 11 min.

RAJU

Director Max Zaehle, together with his director of photography Sin Huh and actors Wotan Wilke Möhring and Julia Richter, depict the moral dilemma faced by couples wishing to adopt.

DIR Max Zähle, Stefan Gieren. Germany/India, 24 min.

THE SHORE

After 25 years in exile, Jim Mahon (Ciaran Hinds) returns to Ireland to show his American daughter Patty (Kerry Condon) his Belfast roots. But things don't go as planned when she learns of a secret love triangle and a long lost best friend, Paddy (Conleth Hill). Their reconciliation leads to hilarious confusion. Directed by two time Oscar nominee Terry George, the film won Best Director and Best Actor at the Rhode Island Film Festival and is nominated for an Irish Film and Television Award.

DIR Terry George, Oorlagh George. Ireland, 31 min.

TIME FREAK

A neurotic inventor creates a time machine, only to get caught up travelling around yesterday.

DIR Andrew Bowler, Gigi Causey. US, 11 min.

TUBA ATLANTIC

Everybody is going to die one day. Oskar, 70, is going to die in six days. He is now ready to forgive his brother for a disagreement years ago. Will he reach his brother, who he believes live on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, before it's too late?

DIR Hallvar Witzø. Norway, 25 min.

The Oscar Shorts 2012 (Animated)

Total runtime approximately 80 min. The program includes several additional "Highly Commended" films not listed here.

A MORNING STROLL

When a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we are left to wonder which one is the real city slicker.

DIR Grant Orchard. UK, 7 min.

DIMANCHE/SUNDAY

Every Sunday, it's the same old routine! The train clatters through the village and almost shakes the pictures off the wall. In the church, dad dreams about his toolbox. And of course later grandma will get a visit and the animals will meet their fate.

DIR Patrick Doyon. Canada, 9 min.

LA LUNA

A fable of a young boy who is coming of age in the most peculiar of circumstances. Tonight is the very first time his papa and grandpa are taking him to work. In an old wooden boat they row far out to sea, and with no land in sight, they stop and wait. A big surprise awaits the little boy as he discovers his family's most unusual line of work.

DIR Enrico Casarosa. US, 7 min.

THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR. MORRIS LESSMORE

Inspired in equal measures by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, THE WIZARD OF OZ and a love for books, this is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) award winning author/illustrator William Joyce and co-director Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and MGM Technicolor musicals, resulting in a film that is old fashioned and cutting edge at the same time.

DIR William Joyce, Brandon Oldenburg. US, 17 min.

WILD LIFE

Calgary, 1909. An Englishman moves to the Canadian frontier, but is singularly unsuited to it. His letters home are much sunnier than the reality. Intertitles compare his fate to that of a comet.

DIR Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby. Canada, 14 min.