Canada has a vibrant animation sector and three works with Canadian connections have been nominated for an Oscar award. Montreal animator Theodore Ushev told Canadian Press that he fainted when he learned his “Blind Vaysha” was nominated for best animated short. He reportedly ate three muffins to revive himself.
News technique recalls linocuts
His film follows a girl who can only see the past from one eye and the future from the other, mirroring a generation he told CP that feels nostalgic about the past but is afraid of the future. The film has been called dark and it employs a new technique reminiscent of linocuts.
Ushev’s 8-minute film was produced by the National Film Board of Canada, a government agency which has won several Academy awards over the years.
Canadian art programs bear fruit
Also nominated was “Pear Cider and Cigarettes” directed by Robert Valley who trained at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver. His film is a story about saving a friend from self-destruction and is drawn by hand. It was funded by Kickstarter.
Also in the running for best animated short is “Piper” from Pixar. It was written by Alan Barillaro who graduated from Sheridan College in the Toronto area.
‘We beat Disney’
Ushev told Canadian Press the biggest surprise was that the Disney film “Inner Workings” was not nominated. “So I can say, ‘Yeah, we beat Disney!’” He told the wire service that the Disney film was a high, high-budget film whereas his was “a cheap, do-it-yourself film” for which he did all the drawings and animation.
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