BAFTA Shorts 2015

Here are eight short films which are nominated for a BAFTA. Three of those have been shown at Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival 2014, and one of them we saw was The Karman Line starring a BAFTA winner Olivia Colman.

Boogaloo and Graham - avaliable on BBC iPlayer for a limited time

A BAFTA-winning, Oscar-nominated comedy 'set in 1970s Belfast, finds Jamesy and Malachy over the moon when their soft-hearted Dad presents them with two baby chicks to care for. But the boys are in for a shock when their parents announce that big changes are coming to the family'. Directed by a short filmmaker, Michael Lennox, who had done cinematography on Channel 4's documentary Queen Victoria and the Crippled Kaiser (2013).

The Bigger Picture

'You want to put her in a home; you tell her; tell her now!' hisses one brother to the other. But Mother won't go, and their own lives unravel as she clings on. Innovative life-size animated characters tell the stark and darkly humorous tale of caring for an elderly parent in Daisy Jacobs' BAFTA-winning, Oscar-nominated short'. This film was shown in a showcase of short films 'produced by film, television and animation students around the [UK]', presented by The National Association for Higher Education in the Moving Image (NAHEMI), at Encounters 2014. So, Jacobs 'studied Illustration and Character Animation at Central St Martin’s, and has just graduated from an MA in Animation Direction at the National Film and Television School'.

Emotional Fusebox

This is Rachel Tunnard's directorial debut film about 'Anna lives in her Mum's garden shed making videos with her thumbs. Her Mum wants her to come out but Anna doesn't want to'. She worked as an editor on short and feature-length films including her own film, Shell (2012) and Little Ashes (2008).

The Karman Line

A heart-felt dramedy, directed by Oscar Sharp, about a mother (Olivia Colman) who began to have 'a rare condition that sees her lift off the ground at a slow but ever increasing rate, her husband and daughter are forced to come to terms with losing her'. This is Sharp's fourth short film and we can see the film as an allegory of dealing with cancer or other termnial illness. I was amazed of the CGI birds flying around Colman with a beautiful landscape of London, and there are some behind-of-scenes avaliable in public.

Monkey Love Experiments

Taking the inspiration of love for an animated film about 'a misguided monkey believes he is destined for the moon'. This film, shown at the Encounters 2014, directed, co-written and animated by Ainslie Henderson, collaborating with Will Anderson (director and co-writer). Henderson made his first award-winnning film I am Tom Moody which was shown at the Encounters 2012 where it won the Best of British Animated Short award. Anderson did animation, directing, editing and writing on some animated shorts including his award-winning film, The Making of Longbird. Henderson and Anderson made all of the animation in a documentary film A Great Hip-Hop Hoax (2013).

My Dad

This animated film marks Marcus Armitage's graduation at the Royal College of Art. He directed, written and animated his second film about 'a dad's influence on a young boy's life. His judgmental character mixed with the boy's fondness for his dad prove to be a toxic mix that tears away at a world of opportunity and experiences'.

Slap

Nick Rowland's second short film 'about the struggles of a young boxer named Connor who secretly likes to cross-dress. Taking place in the English wastelands left by the economic downturn, Slap is an exploration of teenage masculinity in the modern age'.

Three Brothers

This film, directed and written by Aleem Khan, is about 'Hamid struggles to care for his younger brothers when their father abandons them for Pakistan. A story inspired by true events'. After the graduation, he worked for the advertising agency, Evidently before he going freelance in 2011. He currently works as a freelance director for Evidently and other companies including Agile Films and Loki.