Oscar-nominated shorts long on quality

Here are highlights of this year’s collection in two categories: animated (86 minutes total) and live action (130 minutes total).

Besides the five animated films that won nominations for 2017, a selection of last year’s shorts will be shown.

[...] the distributors say that although most of the animated movies are suitable for children, one film is not: “Pear Cider and Cigarettes” includes a healthy dose of adult subjects.

The strongest among the animated offerings is “Blind Vaysha” (directed by Theodore Ushev, Canada, eight minutes), a fable about a girl who, despite the film’s title, is able to see, but in a special way:

The style is reminiscent of linocuts and that school of animation based on paper silhouettes.

“Piper” (directed by Alan Barillaro, United States, six minutes) is an entertaining look at some life lessons experienced by a sandpiper chick, including how to forage for food.

An Algerian-born man seeking French citizenship sits in a chair and is interrogated by a French official.

[...] viewers with a high tolerance for schmaltz may enjoy “La Femme et la TGV” (directed by Timo von Gunten, Switzerland, 30 minutes), with Jane Birkin as a lonely woman who develops a kind of long-distance relationship with the engineer of the train that passes by her house every day.