For our tenth Rundown article, we look at two diminutive categories. After the jump, you’ll find our winner and runner-up predictions for Best Animated Short Film and Live-Action Short Film as well as general commentary about the race. Wednesday, we tackle the newest Oscar category.

Best Animated Short Film

Winner Predictions

• Blind Vaysha
• Borrowed Time
• Pear Cider and Cigarettes
• Pearl
• Piper (WL O) (PP R) [New] (TB O) (TL O)

Runner-Up Predictions

• Borrowed Time (WL O)
• Pear Cider and Cigarettes (TB R) [New] (TL R) [New]
• Pearl (PP R) [New]

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Wesley Lovell: I have only seen Piper so far, but it’s such a charming, wordless short film that I’m currently leaning towards its victory. I won’t have a chance to see the other nominees until the final week before the Oscars, but if I can get them in by then, it may affect my predictions.
Peter J. Patrick: I have no idea, really, but Piper and Pearl seem to be the titles that are popping up most, so I suspect one or the other will be the winner.
Tripp Burton: Pixar hasn’t had a lot of luck in recent years in this category, and Piper is on thin ice to win, but I’ll stick with it. The competition all feels too dark to triumph here, although Piper may also be too slight to pull off the victory.
Thomas La Tourrette: This category will come down to either the short cute Pixar-produced Piper or the long, serious Pear Cider and Cigarettes. My guess is that they will go with the humorous Piper. It played in front of Zootopia, so it was seen by a number of people. Though more importantly, in my opinion, at a recent showing of the animated shorts it produced strong bits of laughter from the audience. People responded to the emotions of this charming six-minute film and that should produce a win. Pear Cider, on the other hand, delves into the personal history of a man and his self-destructive friend over the years. It had striking animation and an involving storyline. While the longest film can often win here, this one may be too long to hold the full attention of the voting crowd. And others may be turned off by the character who seems determined to drink (and fight and recklessly drive) himself into oblivion. I do not think any of the other three nominees will stand much of a chance of winning. Borrowed Time boasts beautiful vistas of the cliffs of the American southwest, but the storyline felt a little thin. Blind Vaysha may have a unique animated style, reminiscent of woodblock prints, but a dour story, dark animation and a somewhat simplistic moral will probably keep it out of the winner’s circle. Pearl is about a father and daughter who use their car as a home at times as they pursue dreams of music careers. It is nice and boasts some good songs, but I am not sure that will be enough for it to win. Pear Cider could pull an upset, but I think that people will go for the heart-warming tale of growing up found in Piper.

Best Live-Action Short Film

Winner Predictions

• Ennemis Interieurs (TL R) [New]
• La Femme et le TGV (WL O)
• Silent Nights (PP O) (TB O)
• Sing
• Timecode

Runner-Up Predictions

• La Femme et le TGV (TL R) [New]
• Silent Nights (WL O)
• Sing (TB R) [New]
• Timecode (PP R) [New]

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Wesley Lovell: Without having seen the short film nominees yet, and not likely being able to until the week before the Oscars, I’ll have to go out on a limb. Based on the plot descriptions, I’m going to use a tried-and-true method of picking the winner, by going with the most compelling title: Le Femme et le TGV.
Peter J. Patrick: I don’t know anything about these nominees, but Silent Nights and Timecode seem like the kinds of titles that win in this category.
Tripp Burton: If immigration tends to be a theme come Oscar night, especially in some of the non-mainstream categories, than Silent Nights should do well here. This category loves its heart-warming stories, though, and that could bode well for Sing.
Thomas La Tourrette: This is a harder category to predict. Often the longest film wins, though four of them are close to a half hour long. Those four are also fairly serious films, though a couple have some humor in them. The shortest film, Timecode from Spain, was enjoyable as one watches the antics of bored security guards. It was fun but probably too slight to win. Sing deals with children in a school choir rebelling against their choir director. The director got strong performances from a young cast but I am not sure that it can win, unless the feeling of wanting to rebel against an oppressor rings a bell in the voters. Silent Nights tells the story of an illegal Ghanese immigrant living in Denmark. He starts a relationship with a volunteer at a homeless shelter, but when she learns more about him things get strained. It is good, but did not have the emotional impact of some of the others. My guess is that it will come down to Ennemis Inerieurs and La Femme et la TGV. Ennemis is mostly a two-man drama set in a police station where a French-Algerian immigrant’s interview to get French citizenship takes a wholly different track than expected when the interviewer gets into questions about terrorists. It is set during the 1990s, but the crowd watching it got very involved in it. La Femme is a more lightweight film about a woman who waves daily at a passing train. It is based on true events. Eventually she starts a writing relationship with the train’s engineer. It is sweet and boasts a good performance by the lead, but it also felt a bit pat at the end. La Femme may well win as it is a feel good movie, but the darker and more enigmatic Ennemis Interieurs would be a more worthy winner.

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