On Demand Weekly

Check it out film fans. With the Oscars® on the mind, Movies On Demand has made the best of this year's nominated short films available to see before Sunday's awards show (and throughout March).

You can choose Best Animated Short Films or Best Live Action Short Films. Or watch both. This is your chance to get a leg up on your Oscar® pool.

The Oscar® Nominated Short Films 2011 - Available On Demand

The Gruffalo (Shorts Intl)

• “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)”: European traveler’s experience of the Malagasy culture. (French, 11 mins, Director:  Bastien Dubois).
• “Let's Pollute” Satirical educational film looks at pollution’s longtime necessity to the American economy. (USA, six mins, Director:  Geefwee Boedoe).
• “The Gruffalo”  Innocent mouse vs. predators.(UK; Germany, 27 mins, Directors:  JakobSchuh and Max Lange).
• “The Lost Thing”  Boy discovers a strange creature on the beach and tries to find it a place for it to fit in. (Australia; UK, 15 mins.  Directors:  Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan)

Na Wewe (Shorts Intl)

• “The Confession”  Nine year-old boy stages a prank so he has something to say at confession. (UK, 26 mins, Director:  Tanel Toom). 
• “Wish 143”  Dying teen has a final wish - to lose his virginity. (UK, 24 mins, Director:  Ian Barnes).
• “Na Wewe”  Civilians caught in 1994 civil war between ethnic Hutus and Tutsis in Burundi. (Belgium, 19 mins, Director:  Ivan Goldschmidt).
• “The Crush”  Eight year-old boy has a crush on his teacher. Real boyfriend arrives on the scene and is challenged to a duel. (Ireland, 15 mins, Director:  Michael Creagh).
• “God of Love”  Love triangle changes the good luck of a lounge-singer darts champion. (USA, 18 mins, Director:  Luke Matheny).

Where to find the Short Film packages content on your Cabler On Demand on-screen menus:

Are you a cinephile? Someone who wants to find an up-and-comer filmmaker? Or do you want to be able to screen all Academy Awards® nomiated films for your Oscar® pool this Sunday? Well now you can watch all of the 2012 Oscar® Nominated Shorts in one place.

The best of this year’s nominated shorts are offered in two special packages: Best Animated Short Films and Best Live Action Short Films, in both HD and SD. These films are presented On Demand to cable television subscribers by ShortsHD and iN DEMAND.

Best Live Action Short Films

- “Pentecost”- Ireland (12 min, Director: Peter McDonald) - When Damian is forced to serve as an altar boy at an important mass in his local parish he faces a difficult choice: conform to the status quo or serve an extended ban from his passion in life, football.
- “Raju” - Germany/India (25 min, Director: Max Zähle) - A German couple in Kolkata adopts an Indian orphan. When their child suddenly disappears, they realize that they are part of the problem.
- “The Shore”- Ireland (31 min, Director: Terry George) - Joe and Paddy have been divided for 25 years by the tumult of "The Troubles". When Joe returns home to Northern Ireland, his daughter Patricia brings the two men together for a reunion, with unexpected results.
- “Time Freak” - USA (11 min, Director: Andrew Bowler) - A neurotic inventor creates a time machine, only to get caught up traveling around yesterday.
- “Tuba Atlantic” Norway (26 min, Director: Hallvar Witzø) - Seventy-year-old Oskar has only six days left to live, and wants to reconcile with his brother after a lifetime of disagreement.


Best Animated Short Films

- “Dimanche/Sunday”- Canada (10 min, Director: Patrick Doyon) - Every Sunday, it's the same old routine! The train clatters through the village and almost shakes the pictures off the wall. In the church, Dad dreams about his toolbox. And of course later Grandma will get a visit and the animals will meet their fate.
- “A Morning Stroll” - UK (7 mins, Director: Grant Orchard) - When a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we are left to wonder which one is the real city slicker.
- “Wild Life” - Canada (14 mins, Directors: Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby) – In 1909, an Englishman moves to the Canadian frontier, but is singularly unsuited to it. His letters home are much sunnier than the reality, with inter-titles often comparing his fate to that of a comet.
- “The Fantasic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” - USA (15 mins, Directors: William Joyce & Brandon Oldenburg) - Inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, this film is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of written story.

You can also watch the Oscar Nominated Short Films 2010 and Oscar Nominated Short Films 2011 in both live action and animation genres.*

Here’s where viewers can find this content within their On Demand on-screen menus:

Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Cox:
“Awards Season” category.

Comcast:
“Oscar Nominees” category and other similar folders.

Bresnan:
“Oscar Short Films”

Cablevision:
“All Movies By Genre/Family (Drama for Live-Action)”
“New Releases”
“Oscar Short Films”

Charter:
“New Releases”
 

*NOTE: Title dates and availability may vary by system. Not available on all cable systems.

Titles start on Feb. 21 and end as follows: Time Warner Cable/Bright House Networks/Comcast/Cox/Bresnan/Cablevision – 3/12; Charter, 3/23.