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OSCARS 2014 Denmark / Finland

Danish and Finnish films on the shorts list for an Oscar nom

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- Danish director Anders Walters’ Helium and Finnish director Selma Vilhunen’s Do I Have to Take Care of Everything? are among the 10 live action shorts considered for a nomination

Danish and Finnish films on the shorts list for an Oscar nom
Do I Have to Take Care of Everything? by Selma Vilhunen

“It is overwhelming – I have made three films, and two of them have been shortlisted for an Oscar nomination,” said Danish director Anders Walters, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the list of 10 live action shorts considered for the Oscar 2014.

Last year his 17-minute 9 Meter was shortlisted, and now his Helium has entered the competition with another Nordic production, Finnish director Selma Vilhunen’s Do I Have to Take Care of Everything? The final nominations will be announced on January 16, 2014, and the 86th Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 2, 2014.

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While Walters has been shortlisted twice, Denmark’s M&M Productions – which has backed both films – has been in the Oscar shorts race nine times, with six nominations and three trophies as a result (Election Night/1999, This Charming Man/2003, The New Tenants/2009). “We are proud to help developing new talented directors with good stories to tell,” said Danish producers Tivi and Kim Magnusson.

Scripted by Christian Gamst Miller-Harris and Walters, the 23-minute Helium is the story of a boy, Alfred, who is hospitalised and fatally ill. Here he meets a cleaning man, Enzo, and together they create a fantasy world which becomes a refuge for Alfred, who rediscovers the joy of life.

Produced by Finland’s Tuffi Films, Do I Have to Take Care of Everything? has already toured more than 16 international festivals, including Aspen (US, where it won for Best Comedy and the Audience Award. Scripted by Kirsikka Saari, the seven-minute short describes a chaotic morning in a family with kids and a mother, who is determined to take care of everything herself.

Denmark is also represented on the Oscar shortlist of 10 animated shorts, by Michelle and Uri Kranot’s Hollow Land, which was screened at 40 foreign festivals and collected five prizes. The 14-minute production by Marie Bro for Dansk Tegnefilm follows Solomon and Berta on a long journey in search of home – is it utopia this time, or just another stop-over.

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