March 14, 2002

The MIT Lecture Series Committee announces the presentation of the
nominees for Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Short
Animated Feature and Best Short Subject Live Action (the Oscar
Shorts) for 2001.  

The MIT Lecture Series Committee presents lectures and 35mm films to the
MIT community.  LSC shows feature-length films on Wednesday, Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday evenings in room 26-100 at MIT.  Each weekend
feature will be preceded by a short subject.  Features in March will be
preceded by a short chosen by LSC.  Features in April and May will each
follow an Oscar nominee.  LSC's complete Spring term schedule is
available online at http://lsc.mit.edu and will include the shorts for
each week as soon as the schedule has been finalized.


The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) awards an Oscar
for Best Short Subject Animation and Best Short Subject Live Action to
"short subjects" annually in March.  This year's nominees are:

Best animated short film

    * "Fifty Percent Grey"
      A Zanita Films Production
      Ruairi Robinson and Seamus Byrne

      Sergeant wakes up alone, with only a big-screen TV for company, in
      a setting designed to offer him eternal peace and tranquility.

    * "For the Birds"
      A Pixar Animation Studios Production
      Ralph Eggleston

      A flock of small birds perched on a wire finds its delicate balance
      upset by the arrival of a larger bird.

    * "Give Up Yer Aul Sins"
      An Irish Film Board/Radio Telefis Eireann/Arts Council/Brown Bag Films Production
      Cathal Gaffney and Darragh O'Connell

      A television film crew visits a Dublin classroom and records a
      little girl's version of the story of John the Baptist.

    * "Strange Invaders"
      A National Film Board of Canada Production
      Cordell Barker

      Roger and Doris are a childless couple who get more than they
      bargained for when a strange child appears at their door one day.

    * "Stubble Trouble"
      A Calabash Animation Production
      Joseph E. Merideth

      Og longs for love, but he is thwarted in
      his search by his rapidly growing beard.
 

Best live action short film

    * "The accountant"
      A Ginny Mule Pictures Production
      Ray McKinnon and Lisa Blount

      Two brothers whose farm is on the brink of bankruptcy consult an
      accountant who has some highly unconventional money-making
      suggestions.

    * "Copy Shop"
      A Virgil Widrich/Multimediaproduktions G.m.b.H. Production
      Virgil Widrich

      A man working in a copy shop photocopies his hand one day with
      Kafkaesque results.

    * "Gregor's Greatest Invention"
      A Sudwest Film Filmproduktion
      Johannes Kiefer
      
      Gregor's grandmother faces life in an old folks home unless he can
      come up with an invention to compensate for her weakening legs.

    * "A Man Thing (Meska Sprawa)"
      A Polish National Film School Production
      Slawomir Fabicki and Bogumil Godfrejow

      A thirteen-year-old Polish boy, whose closest emotional bond is
      with a stray dog, attempts to hide the fact that his father beats
      him.

    * "Speed for Thespians"
      A Lester Films Ltd. Production
      Kalman Apple and Shameela Bakhsh

      Actors board a New York City bus and begin performing Chekhov's
      "The Bear", interacting with the surprised passengers.


More information about the short films is available at
http://www.apollocinema.com/oscars/. 

The Lecture Series Committee  has been bringing films and lectures to
MIT for over 50 years.  For more information, see http://lsc.mit.edu or
contact Alex Rolfe (arolfe@mit.edu, 617-253-3791).