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:

 

A Princess’ Guide to Fairytale Love

What’s a princess to do these days? There is no end of suitors, but one can wait a long time till the right man comes along. Princess Lucette has a plan, and an ally in her dragon, Joe, who takes his job very seriously.  However, we all know what happens when we get what we want.  Written and directed by a group of students at Gobelins, this entertaining short film gives us a fresh take on the genre while gleefully subverting it (and one or two others into the bargain).

A great job done all round – and let’s hope that all the young cretaives involved in this project go on to bigger and better things.  APGtFL (yeah, lazy, I know) was written and directed by Violette Avouac, Ramya Hegde, Tshegofatso Tracy Pitseng, Kelvin Shani, Polina Saratova, and Ashil Shaji. The music was composed by Nelson Lam, with sound design by Laurent Jimenez, who also handled the mix.

Watch the full film below.

Dare to be Fabulous

Alessandro is a gangster’s son – and as such he has an awful lot to live up to.  He desperately want to prove himself to his father, but despite being forbidden to do so, decides to rob a new night club in order to show that he can live up to what he believes are the family’s expectations of him.  However, when he and his accomplice get to the club, they discover that robbing its denizens might prove a more challenging prospect than they anticipated.  And Alessandro is for one great big surprise into the bargain.

There are tropes at work here - the desperate son seeking a father’s approval, the heist gone wrong, the double life - but they’re handled with such panache and confidence that the story feels fresh and full of heart. In fact, it plays with gender performance and expectation in ways that evoke Victor/Victoria, but with a contemporary pulse and cinematic finish that belies its student origins. It's sharply paced, beautifully designed, and emotionally satisfying. So, congratulations to all involved — especially the directors João Buosi, Yangjia Chen, Adam Meziane Philipps, Carla Sampaio da Silva, Xinxin Qin, and Zhen Zhou, student filmmakers from the renowned Gobelins school of visual communication and animation in Paris.

Watch Dare to be Fabulous below.

Nebula

A young girl, alone in the forest, has a mysterious encounter with a strange creature.  This magical and beautifully produced animated short was created by a very talented group of students from Gobelins: Camille Andre, Marion Bulot, Clément Doranlo, Myriam Fourati, Jonghyun Jungboix, Alexis Kerjoss and Sarah Simon.  Again, a superb piece from one of the consistently best animation schools on the planet.

Distance

Have you ever wanted to talk to or simply just meet someone who has attracted your attention?  Yet when you make an attempt, the distance between you and the object of that attention seems almost insurmountable? That is quite probably a stupid question as it happens to just about everyone – and it is exactly what happens to the girl in question in Distance, a wonderfully made animated short.  The short few steps up to that person become a mind bending phantagorisma of obstacles in a way that, I suspect, only High School life can proffer.

Distance was created by five students at Gobelins, Manoury Wandrille, Tom Law, Jonathan Vermersch, Todd Dejong and Etienne Metois and as such is their graduation short.  Somehow, I think they may have received very high grades.

In-Between

Shyness is often compared, metaphorically, to an animal. Yet a crocodile? When you watch this you will think why not? This very smart animated short tells the story of a young woman, whose timidity is represented by the aforementioned large aquatic reptile.  Every step she takes, he follows.  Everything she does - he always seems to get in-between.

Even though he makes her life a misery you have to admit – for a croc, he’s kinda cute.

The animation was created by Alice Bissonet, Aloyse Desoubries Binet, Sandrine Han Jin Kuang, Juliette Laurent and Sophie Markatatos as part of their studies at Gobelins in Paris.

Paraphernalia

A little girl, reclusive and shy, lives in the attic amongst all of her paraphernalia.  Then, one day, quite suddenly a young man literally drops in on her.   

This charming short animation is by Sabrina Cotugno, who created this for her third year at Calarts.   

However, it was mostly made at Gobelins School in France, which is something I am glad she pointed out.  Had I seen this animated short without any information around its maker or its making I would have said it was made in Europe – and probably in France!

This is a delightful animation which I hope gains Cotugno the attention she deserves!