Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing (Madman Entertainment) has won the Best Short Film (Animated) at the 83rd Academy Awards.
Directed by Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann, and produced by Passion Pictures Australia, The Lost Thing is a painstakingly detailed 15-minute animation based on Tan’s highly-acclaimed book of the same name. The Lost Thing also features narration by the Perrier award-winning Australian comedian, musician and performer Tim Minchin.
As well as bonus footage, production artwork, interviews and more, The Lost Thing DVD ($29.95srp) features the brand new, 48-page limited edition book ‘What Miscellaneous Abnormality Is That?’, created exclusively for this release by Shaun Tan.
A boy discovers a bizarre looking creature while out collecting bottle tops at the beach. Realising it is lost, he tries to find out who owns it or where it belongs, but is met with indifference from everyone else, who barely notice its presence, each unwilling to entertain this uninvited interruption to their day-to-day lives. For reasons he does not explain, the boy empathises with the creature and sets out to find a ‘place’ for it.
The world of The Lost Thing is odd and idiosyncratic, with its own unique aesthetic. The central themes reflect a number of personal interests for Tan such as technology and the environment, perception, bureaucracy, social apathy and the importance of imagination.
The Lost Thing was one of many nominations this year for films distributed by Madman. Other films nominated across a range of categories included Biutiful, Animal Kingdom, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Dogtooth, The Illusionist, Outside the Law and National Geographic’s Restrepo.
Palace Films’ Oscar-nominated Gasland and Blue Valentine will be out on DVD in April and June respectively.
Following is the complete list of Oscar-award nominations:
– Best Actor in a Leading Role – Javier Bardem, Biutiful
– Best Actress in a Leading Role – Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine (Palace Films)
– Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
– Best Animated Feature Film – The Illusionist
– Best Short Film (Animation) – The Lost Thing, Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
– Best Documentary Feature:
Exit Through the Gift Shop, Banksy
Gasland, Josh Fox (Palace Films)
Restrepo, Tim Hetherington
– Best Foreign Language Film:
Biutiful (Mexico)
Dogtooth (Greece)
Outside the Law [Hors-aA-Loi] (Algeria)
– Best Costume Design – I Am Love, Antonella Cannarozzi
– Rama Gaind
