A Friend of Dorothy – Oscar Nominated Short Film Starring Miriam Margolyes

It’s strange the directions in which life can unexpectedly take you.  This charming short film, starring Miriam Margolyes, Stephen Fry and relative newcomer Alistair Nwachukwu (who looks like his star will shine brightly in the future) is about just that.  Teenager JJ kicks his football into Dorothy’s garden, and knocks on her door to retrieve it.  That’s a lucky break for Dorothy because she has found it impossible to open her daily tin of prunes – and a strong young man is just what she needs to help out.  Maybe she has found the friend she needs...

An almost immediate spark of mutual trust and friendship is ignited – two comparatively lost souls find company in their unexpected shared interest.  To say anything else might mean spoiling the film – it is, after all, very short.  But it is beautiful – and the performance from the two leads are just, well, the only word for it is lovely.  Of course there is the very capable support from Stephen Fry, being very Stephen Fryish and also Oscar Lloyd as Dorothy’s priggish grandson.

The film has quite rightly been nominated for an Oscar (Best Live Action Short Film) which leaves me in something of a dilemma.  Jane Austen’s Period Drama has also been nominated this year and I really don’t know which one should win, both being outstanding.  I'm torn. Can an acdemy award be shared? Please let it be so...

A Friend of Dorothy was written, directed and executive produced by Lee Knight and produced by James Dean, Scottie Fotré, and Max Marlow.  A big thank you to them all for giving us this very precious twenty minutes.

Here is another short video - an interview with the writer and director, Lee Knight and Miriam Margolyes on BBC Breakfast which gives a little more insight into the production of the film and how Lee worked with Miriam.  Best of luck at the Oscars to both of you!

 

Jane Austen's Period Drama (2026 Oscar Nominated)

This short film is bloody wonderful.  Erm. I suppose I could have described it a little less appropriately – let’s just say that it brought out my inner Ron Weasley for a second.  As far as Jane Austen adaptations go, this may not be quite what you were expecting – but it does at least have all the right ingredients.  In fact, the Jane Austen references are everywhere.  And so they should be.

To begin with, there are three sisters, much along the lines of Sense and Sensibility.  They are around the same age as Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret Dashwood but here instead we have Miss Estrogenia “Essy” Talbot (Julia Aks), Miss Labinia Talbot (Samantha Smart) and Miss Vagianna Talbot (Nicole Alyse Nelson).  And yes, if you hadn’t guessed this is a comedy, then you just have. I hope.  You have also probably guessed what constitutes the period drama too. Let other keyboards dwell on guilt and misery, though; this is just for fun.

The Janeite world-building is thorough, although it might make a few uber-purists run for the smelling salts (or dash to the gin cabinet). We have the father who retreats to his study whenever things get a little uncomfortable (shades of Mr Bennett in Pride and Prejudice), and the even more uncomfortable fact that all his daughters are as yet unmarried. Of course, in those days it was a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of no great fortune, must be in want of a husband.  And it looks like Essy is about to be the first of the Talbot girls to get hitched.  She has managed to attract the attention of the handsome, brooding, slighly dim Mr James Dickley, played by Ta’imua (great chemistry between the two leads, by the way).  However, the drama of the title comes into play very quickly. Could this be the end of the Talbot-Dickley union, before it has even fully started?

You can watch and find out, the film is below. What involvement Emma Thompson had in the project I cannot tell you, but she is listed as Executive Menstrual Advisor.  Shame there was no Thompson style weeping in the film… but it is a comedy after all. What I can tell you, though, is that it was written by Julia Acks (Essy in the film) and Steve Pinder. The talented duo also directed the film.  What I enjoyed about it most of all is the script, which is very sharp, knowing, contemporary and extremely funny – a gift to any actor who can keep a straight face long enough.  I imagine there were one or few bloopers made while filming.

Not only is it all of the above, it is stylistically so in keeping with the way period dramas are made in terms of the way the whole thing looks – perfect, really.  Plus the casting of the sisters is spot on – you can create an Austenesque backstory for each of them the moment they utter their first words.  Having watched this, I was hardly surprised to see that this has been Oscar nominated for Best Live Action Short Film.  Fingers crossed that this beats the opposition into bloody (ah, did it again) submission and comes out on top.

The Shyness of Trees - Nominated for the 2026 Academy Award for Best Animated Short

Parents age, get old and die.  That’s the way of things but often it comes way too soon, even when they have reached a good age.  The adult children left behind are sometimes far less willing to accept (or even welcome) the inevitability of death than the parent. 

Such is the case with Hélène, a 40 year old who arrives to visit her mother and is shocked by what she discovers.  It seems that her mother has let herself and her home “go” and she has formed a strange bond with the large tree that overlooks her property – not to mention the bugs that live in and around it. Yet over the space of the next few hours, she will reconcile not only to her mother’s imminent death but to her acceptance of this glorious circle of life.

The Shyness of Trees was created by Sofia Chuikovska, Loick du Plessis D’Argentre, Lina Han, Simin He, Jiaxin Huang, Maud Le Bras, and Bingqing Shu.  It was done during their time at Gobelins (a prestigious Paris-based school internationally renowned for its excellence in animation, visual effects, and digital arts education.).  It has been nominated for the 2026 Academy Award for Best Animated Short and richly deserves this – although I am sure that some of the neo-animators involved must now be wondering how they go on to surpass this!

Watch The Shyness of Trees below:

 

Even Pigeons go to Heaven

An old man, Moulin, has cut off the world and lives a miserly existence on his own.  One day he climbs a pile of books so he can reach a bottle of spirits and the stack collapses.  Fortunately a priest arrives to stop his fall but notices that the old man has brought something else to the ground as well as the bottle - a red sock containing all his savings.

The priest promises Moulin salvation if he signs over the money.  He has a device which will ensure his entry in to heacen but the old man wants to see more proof....

This extremely cool animated short directed by Samuel Tourneux was nominated for an Academy Award in 2007.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore - Academy Award Winner

I have to say, I was not expecting this, but The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore made me shed a little tear, such is its gentle loveliness.  A natural but somewhat introverted bookworm, Morris is swept away by a tornado to a land where books can fly and he can help heal people through the curative power of storytelling.

Little wonder then that out of five animated short films that were considered for the 2012 Academy Award for Short Film (animated), this won! Congratulations to all involved.

This gorgeous Oscar winning piece of animation was created by award winning author and illustrator William Joyce together with Co-director Brandon Oldenburg via Moonbot Studios.

Every Best Visual Effects Winner. Ever.

The folks at Burger Fiction can always be relied on to come up with something special and this is no exception. If you want to see how visual effects have improved over the decades then you need to look no further than this – a glimpse of each and every Oscar winner since the Award for Special Effects (under its various guises) was first started way back in 1927.

Even Pigeons go to Heaven

An old man, Moulin, has cut off the world and lives a miserly existence on his own.  One day he climbs a pile of books so he can reach a bottle of spirits and the stack collapses.  Fortunately a priest arrives to stop his fall but notices that the old man has brought something else to the ground as well as the bottle - a red sock containing all his savings.

The priest promises Moulin salvation if he signs over the money.  He has a device which will ensure his entry in to heacen but the old man wants to see more proof....

This extremely cool animated short directed by Samuel Tourneux was nominated for an Academy Award in 2007.

The Danish Poet - Academy Award Winner, Best Animated Short Film 2006

I am thrilled to little pieces to be able to share The Danish Poet with you.  Created in a 2006 this animated short film was written, directed, and animated by Torill Kove and narrated by Liv Ullmann.

This delightful animated film focuses on Kasper Jørgensen a sad and lonely Danish poet in the 1940s.  His psychiatrist suggests that he travels on the ferry from Copenhagen to Norway to meet his favorite author, Sigrid Undset.

He agrees but gets waylaid by the Norwegian weather and takes refuge at a farm where he meets Ingeborg, the farmer’s daughter.

The two fall in love but fate gets in the way.  How Kasper and Ingeborg finally get together is something, I think, for you to discover for yourself but (without spoiling any surprise) it is more than their own fates that are at stake here.

The Danish Poet is a co-production of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and Mikrofilm AS of Norway, it has won both the Academy Award (the Oscar!) and Genie Award for best animated short film in 2006.

Travel by Feet

You may remember back in January we shared with you the amazing Birdboy which made the Academy Award shortlist. The same team is now developing Travel by Feet, an animated short film directed by Khris Cembe, from a black comedy story co-written with his traveling mate Laura Aguado.

The synopsis is straightforward enough - a night rail journey. A car full of passengers. An undesirable fellow passenger is inside your compartment. What to do when it's not possible neither sleep nor escape?

However, as straightforward as it sounds, the production has run in to a slight hiccup – money – and that’s where you could come in. Take a look at the project description over at Verkami and, if you can, dig deep. If Travel by Feet is half as good as Birdboy it will be awesome!

Logorama

Logorama was an internet hit two years ago, but you know the thing about Christmas – it’s about the only time that people actually like repeats – at least of things that they love. If you haven’t seen this one before, it is set in the world of Logorama, where every person and building is represented by a brand’s logo.  It is part comedy, part thriller but one hundred percent genius!

Logorama is a short film that was directed by the French animation collective H5, François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy and Ludovic Houplain.

It was presented at the Cannes Film Festival 2009. It opened the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and won a 2010 academy award under the category of animated short.

French Roast

French Roast is an animated short  created by Fabrice O. Joubert. It is Joubert's first short film but managed to get itself nominated for an Oscar last year. 

When you watch it we are sure you will agree that the nomination was well deserved.  Although the action takes place in a single Parisian cafe, there is plenty of it.

The animation is set circa1960. An uptight and snobbish businessman makes the horrifying (for him) discovery that he has forgotten to bring his wallet.  Mortified, he bides his time by ordering more coffee - to admit that he has no money is my far the worse option. He turns away a rather hirsuite and smelly homeless man who asks him for money, but finally, because of a more than curious turn of events, it is the homeless man who is unselfish enough to pay the businessman's bill thus saving him from embarrassment.


Find out how by watching the animation in its entirety!