Animated Thoughts: 2026 Academy Award Nominated Feature and Short Films

And the Academy Award nominations for 2026 are out.

In the category of animated feature film we have:

ARCO
Ugo Bienvenu, Félix de Givry, Sophie Mas and Natalie Portman

ELIO
Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina and Mary Alice Drumm

KPOP DEMON HUNTERS
Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans and Michelle L.M. Wong

LITTLE AMÉLIE OR THE CHARACTER OF RAIN
Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han, Nidia Santiago and Henri Magalon

ZOOTOPIA 2
Jared Bush, Byron Howard and Yvett Merino

And in the category of animated short film:

BUTTERFLY
Florence Miailhe and Ron Dyens

FOREVERGREEN
Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears

THE GIRL WHO CRIED PEARLS
Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski

RETIREMENT PLAN
John Kelly and Andrew Freedman

THE THREE SISTERS
Konstantin Bronzit

The full list of nominees can be viewed on their website. I've only seen two of the shorts (and one of the features) thus far. Can't wait until the shorts program comes to town so I can see the rest of them.

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Animated Thoughts: Starting the year off right, pt.1

Well I decided to start the year out strong with two movies and two trips to the Detroit Institute of Arts.

The DIA brought in Dr. Daniel Jaquet to demonstrate how a knight would be dressed in his medieval armor--as well as dispel a number of myths propagated by Hollywood over the years, history versus Hollywood and all that. Apparently, knights in plate mail armor didn't need a block-and-tackle setup to lift them onto their horses. And when discussing the weight of medieval plate armor, Dr. Chaz Kirchhoff stated that it's around 40 to 50 pounds--comparable to a fireman wearing his kit, or a modern solder wearing his kevlar.

Additionally, Dr. Jaquet stated that his record for donning the armor, with the assistance of two squires, was around four-and-a-half minutes. For his Ph.D thesis, Dr. Jaquet had this replica suit of armor custom built from a 15th century design to his own physical specifications, including the underclothes that a knight would wear to provide padding between his body and the armor. He also spent six months training his body to wear the armor wearing it two hours per day five days per week--much to the chagrin of his wife. For more info on how the armor was built, I recommend this article over on the Open Culture website.

Dr. Daniel Jaquet

Well after dressing in his armor (sans some of the chainmail undergarments), Dr. Jaquet also showed off the flexibility of wearing this armor by doing calisthenics, push-ups, a short jog, and sprinting.

Demonstrations like these do more than just feed my imagnation while playing Dungeons and Dragons, they provide a rare glimpse into how the human body moves and reacts when wearing restrictive and heavy covering. It's one thing to watch films like Lord of the Rings or Conan the Barbarian, however it's another thing entirely to be in the front row watching a man in armor go through his paces. It's more than just "history comes alive", as an animator, you really get a feeling for how this kind of distributed weight affects and restricts human motion. You just can't beat watching something like this in person.

The Letter, ~1905
William Churchill

And, while at the DIA, I made sure to carve out enough time to enjoy some art and a bowl of their chicken soup at the Cafe DIA. While it's still the best chicken soup in Michigan, I'd still have to say it's  running neck-and-neck with Pesto's restaurant over in Flint, Michigan.

Part two coming soon...

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2025, the year in review

December is here. As the holiday season is in full swing and the end of the year rapidly approaches, I find myself looking back before looking forward. No small amount of time this year was spent looking at and learning about art--not just appreciating but trying to gain a greater understanding of the how's and the why's of these works.

Claude Monet at the Flint Institute of Arts

When the Flint Institute of Arts brings in a painting by your favorite artist of all time, and it's one that you have never seen in person before, driving to Flint becomes a moral imperative.

The Sheltered Path, 1873. Claude Monet

Harryhausen in Kalamazoo

One of my friends turned me on to an event in Kalamazoo, the Ray Harryhausen collection--one filled with models and artwork from his films but also valuable instructional information on how he achieved his groundbreaking special effects. Wish I could've taken all my History of Animation students there.

This is Dynamation!!!

Butterflies and Lanterns

Spring wouldn't be complete without a trip to Meijer Gardens for their Butterflies are Blooming event and then a side-trip to the John Ball Zoo for their Chinese Lantern Festival.

Tiger Longwing
Heliconius Ismenius

The "Hou"

Dragon Forest

Much like the Chinese Lantern Festival event in Grand Rapids, attending the Detroit Zoo's Dragon Forest event was part business, part pleasure. I was fascinated by the detail in the statues, but even moreso with the animatronics and how the sensors were set up to make the whole event interactive. But the 12 year old kid inside me who grew up playing Dungeons and Dragons was absolutely giddy with excitement when encountering all these mythical beasts.

Fire Dragon

DIA Research

This year, I spent a fair amount of time looking into abstract animation. When I came across one of the few books written about visual music posted online, I tried to find my own. However, didn't want to plunk down the cash before taking a look at it. Fortunately, it was the Detroit Institute of Arts to the rescue! After reviewing the book in their on-site library, I added a copy to my own collection of animation books.

Visual Music: Synaesthesia in
Art and Music Since 1900

Ottawa 

In addtion to enjoying the animated films at this year's Ottawa International Animation Festival, I made sure to keep an eye out for interesting and unique works of art as I walked around Canada's capital city.

Art Nouveau

I've always liked the Art Nouveau style though I must admit it was only at a surface level. I'd appreciate the technique but never dug deeper into the history. Enter the Muskegeon Museum of Art and their special exhibition on Art Nouveau. Had never known about the sculpture and furniture that came out of this movement. Afterwards, one of my friends, having heard my desire to learn more, gave me an early Christmas present: a beautiful hardcover book on Alphonse Mucha.

History Lessons

So sometimes you read a student's paper and it causes you to reevaluate what you're teaching. One the assignments in my history class is an analysis paper on the one film I've shown in class that they liked the least.

After reading a student's paper on why they didn't like Rhythmus 21, I went back to that section of my lecture and reread what I had written about Hans Richter and Viking Eggling. To put it mildly, my summary was a mess. After revisiting my initial research—which included multiple textbooks on animation history and Swedish cinema history as well as Louise O'Konor's biography on Viking Eggling—I rewrote my summary on Richter and Eggling’s working relationship then issued a clarification to my students. Humble pie never tastes good, but it's a necessary meal to have.

Candelight by Fever

In what's becoming a yearly tradition, the week before Christmas, I attended a candlelight string quartet performance at the downtown Methodist Church--an evening of classic and contemporary Christmas carols.

But, as the year draws to an end and Christmas is this week, I'm reminded about what the season really means--as so eloquently stated by Charles Shultz.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you all for your support over the years.

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