Pixar's “Partly Cloudy" heads international list of 10 animated shorts for Oscar

On Friday, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 10 films were named to advance in the voting process for the "Animated Short Films" category for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards to be held March 7, 2010 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center and televised on ABC (in case you weren't used to going to ABC to see The Oscars every year).

It's an international list with movies representing production companies from Australia, France, America, Canada, and other countries.

Emeryville, California-based Pixar's “Partly Cloudy" is the American entry and is considered by some to be the front runner for the awards but only because its the most high-profile entry. Frankly, this awards category has been almost impossible to predict in the past, so anything could happen.

That said, here's the list of competitor films:

“The Cat Piano,” Eddie White and Ari Gibson, directors (The People’s Republic of Animation)
“French Roast,” Fabrice O. Joubert, director (Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films)
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty,” Nicky Phelan, director, and Darragh O’Connell, producer (Brown Bag Films)
“The Kinematograph,” Tomek Baginski, director-producer (Platige Image)
“The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte),” Javier Recio Gracia, director (Kandor Graphics and Green Moon)
“Logorama,” Nicolas Schmerkin, producer (Autour de Minuit)
“A Matter of Loaf and Death,” Nick Park, director (Aardman Animations Ltd.)
“Partly Cloudy,” Peter Sohn, director (Pixar Animation Studios)
“Runaway,” Cordell Barker, director (National Film Board of Canada)
“Variete,” Roelof van den Bergh, director (il Luster Productions)

The next step is for the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee to select five nominees from the 10 titles on the short list above. The Academy reports that the movies will be screened for members in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in January of 2010. (No specific date was given as of this writing.)

For more information, visit Oscars.org