Disney is planning to submit the Star Wars: Visions anime episode "The Village Bride" to the 2021/2022 Academy Awards in the Best Animated Short Film category.
The news comes courtesy of animation news website Cartoon Brew, which has assembled a list of 84 animated short films and counting currently qualifying for the Animated Short Film Oscar. In order to qualify, animated films under 40 minutes in length need to either play in theaters or win an award at a qualifying film festival or the Student Academy Awards before being submitted by the filmmaker(s). "The Village Bride" played at the Disney-owned El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles from Sept. 21-27 for the sake of qualifying.
"The Village Bride," directed by Hitoshi Haga and animated by Kinema Citrus (the studio behind Made in Abyss), tells the story of a fallen Jedi who rescues a village prepared to sacrifice their chief's daughter and her fiance to bandits. The short film's unique perspective on the lives of average citizens in the Star Wars universe, its strong anti-imperialist and environmentalist themes, and its amazing musical score by Kevin Perkin have made it one of the more widely praised installments in the Star Wars: Visions anime anthology. While other episodes lean more towards wacky comedy or action fan service, this thoughtful artistic take on Star Wars is a sensible choice for Disney to choose for Oscar qualification.
Qualifying isn't any guarantee it will be nominated or even shortlisted; it has plenty of competition for Best Animated Short Film, even from within Disney. Walt Disney Feature Animation's Us Again and Pixar's Twentysomething and Nona are also in contention and will likely receive heavier campaigning as homegrown productions.
This would not be the first time an episode of an animated TV or streaming series qualified for the Oscars. The Adventure Time episode "Thank You" and the Looney Tunes Cartoons segment "The Curse of the Monkeybird" were submitted in 2011 and 2019, respectively. Cartoon Network's What a Cartoon short "The Chicken from Outer Space," which went on to become the series Courage the Cowardly Dog, actually got nominated for the 1995/1996 awards. Because each episode is self-contained, Star Wars: Visions straddles the line between a "television series" and a "series of short films." Star Wars: Visions will still be eligible for Emmy submissions next year.
All nine episodes of Star Wars: Visions are available for streaming on Disney+.
Source: Cartoon Brew