Where To Stream (Almost) Every Nominated Animated Short At The 2023 Oscars
Now that the nominations for the 95th Annual Academy Awards have been released, Oscar season is in full effect. While most awards coverage usually revolves around the top honors, it's critical to remember that categories like Best Animated Short often don't get as much chatter, which is a shame given everything that happened last year. In a truly baffling move to cut down the runtime of the ceremony, the Academy pre-taped the award, along with 7 other categories, earlier in the day and then presented edited clips of the acceptance speeches.
The kicker is that in doing this, it did absolutely nothing to shorten the program, as the ceremony ran nearly 20 minutes longer. Thankfully, this year will see the previously shafted categories presented in full during the live ceremony, especially after a wave of criticism for the boneheaded move. The fresh batch of nominees for Best Animated Short include "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse," "The Flying Sailor," "Ice Merchants," "My Year of Dicks," and the amazingly titled "An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It."
While theaters will likely start bringing back hits from earlier in 2022 like "Elvis" and "Everything Everywhere All at Once," you'll definitely want to pay attention to the shorts program that usually plays every year. But if you want to get a head start, most of them are already streaming.
Spread out across different streamers
"The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse," is currently streaming on AppleTV+. The short from directors Peter Baynton and Charlie Macksey follows the titular animals form an unexpected friendship with a young boy, while trying to find a home for him. Idris Elba, Tom Hollander, Gabriel Byrne, and Jude Coward Nicoll are among the vocal talents. "Ice Merchants," meanwhile, can be found streaming for free on The New Yorker. The wordless short from director João Gonzalez follows a father and son who parachute from their cliffside house every day to sell ice down below.
"My Year of Dicks" is the most easily accessible, as it's currently streaming on YouTube. Sara Gunnarsdóttir directs the loose adaptation of producer Pamela Ribon's journey to lose her virginity as a Houston teenager in the '90s. Brie Tilton, Jackson Kelly, Klarissa Hernandez, and Chris Elsenbroek are among the vocal talents. "The Flying Sailor" is where things start to get tricky. The short is currently only streaming on the website of The National Film Board of Canada, which is only accessible if you live in, well, Canada. In the span of 8 minutes, directors Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby depict the Halifax explosion of 1917.
Lastly, there's "An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe it," which isn't streaming anywhere for the time being. The Australian short from director Lachlan Pendragon follows a telemarketer who falls into an existential crisis after a talking Ostrich informs him that he's a stop-motion puppet. John Cavanagh, Michael Richard, Jamie Trotter, and Pendragon are among the vocal talents.
Whether you stream them or take the time to see the theatrical program, take a moment to support the hard work of these talented artists.