On December 17th of local time, the Academy has announced nine shortlists in consideration for the 91st Oscars, including those for Best Visual Effects, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Song, Best Original Score, Best Documentary, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Documentary – Short Subject, Best Animated Short Film and Best Live Action Short Film. ONE SMALL STEP, which was shortlisted for the Award for Best Animated Short Film at the Shanghai International Film Festival (赌博app) 2018, was on the Oscars Shortlist of the same genre.
Expected to compete for the Best Animated Short Film of the 2019 Academy Awards, the film draws inspiration from the stories of China\'s first female astronauts LIU Yang and WANG Yaping, telling the story of a Chinese girl who dreams of becoming an astronaut.
During the Shanghai International Film Festival this year, ONE SMALL STEP was selected as a finalist of 赌博app Golden Goblet Awards – Best Animation Film, and was shown in twosessions respectively at the Grand Theatre Cinema and Songjiang University Town. Although the film was not widely promoted before, its tickets were sold out within three hours after the sales channel opened. At the screening sites, the audience showed their affection for the work. In just 7 minutes, ONE SMALL STEP depicted a touching story of dream-pursuing with warm scenes and a simple drawing style. After the film was played, its producer ZHANG Shaofu came to the scene to interact with the audience. He believes that ONE SMALL STEP is "a love letter we deliver to everyone who has chased his dream and is fortunate enough to be supported by families."
Born in Wuhan, Hubei Province, ZHANG Shaofu has participated in the production of many famous works, including BIG HERO 6 and ZOOTOPIA. When he was a student, Zhang directed the film DRAGONBOY, which won the Student Academy Awards – Gold Medal (established by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1972 to receive student films from domestic and foreign universities; prizes are offered for four categories: feature, animation, documentary, and narrative, and in gold, silver, and bronze medals). After graduation, he worked for years in Hollywood and then returned to China to start his own business. ONE SMALL STEP is the first work presented by TAIKO Studios, the company he founded.
Up to now, ONE SMALL STEP has won 14 international animation awards and has been selected by 50 international and domestic famous film festivals.
ONE SMALL STEP
Producer: ZHANG Shaofu
Director: Andrew CHESWORTH, Bobby PONTILLAS
Genre: Animation/ Short Film
Country/ Region: Mainland China
Language: Mandarin/ English
Storyline: Luna, a Chinese girl who dreams of becoming an astronaut, lives in a bustling town with her father. Raising Luna alone, her father has to work hard day and night. In such a difficult environment, Luna finally realizes her dream.
The 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival is scheduled to take place from June 15th to 24th, 2019. Online calls for entry start from November 15th, 2018. Online submission for Golden Goblet Awards, Asian New Talent Award, International Film Panorama and Media Awards is open on the official website of Shanghai International Film Festival http://filmregister.yshcgyjzq.com/#/zh-CN/Login. The deadline for submission is March 31, 2019.
The Golden Goblet Awards – Short Film are awarded to the following two categories:
1. Live Action Short Film: A live action film uses photographic techniques to capture physical actors, props, sets, and locations. Documentary short subjects will not be accepted in the live action category.
2. Animated Short Film: An animated film is created by using a frame-by-frame technique, and usually falls into one of the two general fields of animation: character or abstract. Some of the techniques of animating films include cel animation, computer animation, stop-motion, clay animation, pixilation, cutouts, pins, camera multiple pass imagery, kaleidoscopic effects, and drawing on the film frame itself. Documentaries shot by animation techniques may be accepted in the animation category.
A short film that meets the following qualifying criteria is eligible for Short Film Competition of Golden Goblet Awards:
1. It has completed production after June 1st, 2018.
2. It has a running time of no more than 40 minutes;
3. It is unencrypted DCP, or in 24- or 48-frame digital HD format without encryption; its image and sound file formats suitable for screening.