There are exactly four months to go until the 98th Academy Awards ceremony, and the Academy has released the shortlists for 12 categories. The disappointment of not seeing Italy among the contenders for Best International Feature Film is quickly replaced by a mix of hope, joy, and surprise at finding it represented twice in a category that Italy rarely frequents: Best Animated Short Film.

If we look back at all the nominations in this category, from 1930 to today, Italy appears only four times: in 1965 with The Thieving Magpie by Emanuele Luzzati, in 1976 with Daedalus by Manfredo Manfredi, in 1990 with Grasshoppers by Bruno Bozzetto, and in 2011 with The Moon by Enrico Casarosa—the only Italian filmmaker to also receive a nomination for Best Animated Feature with Luca in 2022.
Perhaps this is why seeing two Italian titles on the shortlist for the 2026 Oscars is both surprising and hopeful, hinting at a future in which Italian animation can finally claim the place it deserves.

But which are these two short films?

The first is Éiru by Giovanna Ferrari.

Giovanna Ferrari is an Italian director, animator, and storyboard artist, born in Bologna in 1979. After completing her studies, she worked for several years in France, collaborating with various directors and European animation studios. In 2014 she moved to Kilkenny, Ireland, where she joined the renowned Cartoon Saloon, the studio internationally known for films such as Song of the Sea, Wolfwalkers, and The Breadwinner. There she held key roles including Head of Story and Storyboard Artist on numerous productions, winning awards such as the Emile Award for The Breadwinner and an Irish Animation Award for My Father’s Dragon.

Éiru marks her directorial and screenwriting debut. Produced by Cartoon Saloon in collaboration with Herstory, the approximately 13-minute short is set in Iron Age Ireland and tells the story of Éiru, the youngest member of a warrior clan, who decides to descend into the depths of the earth when the village well mysteriously runs dry, in an attempt to bring back water and save her community. Along the way, she encounters ancient mythologies and natural forces, proving her courage and resilience.

The short film is created mainly using digital 2D animation, with tools such as TVPaint and Moho, but with a deliberately rough and traditional style, where characters move with strong physicality and lines emphasize expressiveness. This stylistic choice gives the film a powerful visual identity.

The second short film on the Oscar shortlist is its complete opposite: Playing God by Matteo Burani.

Born in 1991, Matteo Burani—director and visual artist—was also born in Bologna. Co-founder of Studio Croma Animation, a studio specializing in stop motion, Burani worked extensively in animation and short film production before directing Playing God, his first personal project.

The approximately 9-minute short tells the story of a tormented sculptor who tries to shape human figures out of clay with ideal proportions. When he realizes he cannot achieve the perfection he seeks, he abandons them. One of the creatures, in a desperate attempt to reach him, destroys itself but finds compassion among the other rejected works. The narrative explores the relationship between creator and creation, perfection and imperfection, acceptance and solidarity.

Just watching the trailer—without forgetting the director’s Bolognese roots—one can notice a reference to The Lamentation over the Dead Christ by Niccolò dell’Arca, the sculptural group housed in the Church of Santa Maria della Vita in Bologna.

The film is primarily made using stop-motion animation, combined with puppet animation, claymation (animation of clay characters), and pixelation (including the animation of human body parts such as hands), resulting in a tactile, handcrafted effect.

Now all that remains is to wait for January 22, the day when the official nominations will be announced, to find out whether the works of Giovanna Ferrari and Matteo Burani will make it into the final five. The Oscar ceremony itself will take place on March 16.