Just two days back, internet opened to a viral viewership to the amazing short 'Aningaaq', made as a spin off of one of the year's most admired movie 'Gravity', and the rumours of it getting considered by the Academy for best live-short film this year at the Oscars were flying around at large. But let's say the axe fell too quick on the expectations, as the Academy released its 10 shortlisted live-shorts that would fight for the nominations by January next year. Well, 'Aningaaq' is sadly absent in the list.The movies in consideration are as follows:
“Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me),” Esteban Crespo, director (Producciones Africanauan)
“Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything),” Xavier Legrand, director, and Alexandre Gavras, producer (KG Productions)
“Dva (Two),” Mickey Nedimovic, director, and Henner Besuch, director of photography (Filoufilm Dani Barsch)
“Helium,” Anders Walter, director, and Kim Magnusson, producer (M & M Productions)
“Kush,” Shubhashish Bhutiani, director (Red Carpet Moving Pictures)
“Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?),” Selma Vilhunen, director, and Kirsikka Saari, screenwriter (Tuffi Films)
“Record/Play,” Jesse Atlas, director, and Thom Fennessey, executive producer (Collaboration Factory)
“Throat Song,” Miranda de Pencier, director (Northwood Productions)
“Tiger Boy,” Gabriele Mainetti, director (Goon Films)
“The Voorman Problem,” Mark Gill, director, and Baldwin Li, producer (Honlodge Productions)
Those who were looking forward to 'Aningaaq' being in this list will be disappointed, but have to say that we haven't really seen the potential of any of the other 10 movies that got into the list.
For Indians there is some good news though. 'Kush' directed by Shubhashish Bhutiani has been shortlisted among the hopefuls for the Oscars this year. Yes, we have to wait till 16th January next year to know if it will make it to the top 5, getting a red carpet welcome. But for now this is a news to be celebrated.
'Kush' was the only Indian short selected for the 2013 Venice Film Festival. The director Shubhashish is an alumunus of School of Visual Arts, and he was inspired by a story of a teacher who tried to protect a sikh boy in his class during the 1984 riots, after the assassination of Indira Gandhi by two Sikh bodyguards. He says, "I am taking a stand against violence, I guess. But otherwise, my film is about the characters and their story. I am not making any political statement,".
The film is made on a budget of 8 lakhs.
See the trailer here:
