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Two Irish Short Films Shortlisted for an Academy Award® Nomination

The Irish short films The Door and Granny O'Grimms Sleeping Beauty have both been shortlisted for an Academy Award® and are now on shortlists of ten films moving one step closer in the race for an Academy Award® nomination.

Directed by Juanita Wilson, The Door is one of ten short films worldwide to be shortlisted in the Best Short Film Live Action category. Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty directed by Nicky Phelan and written and performed by Kathleen O'Rourke is shortlisted in the animated short film category competing against films from Aardman Animation (‘Wallace & Grommit') and Pixar Animation Studios (‘UP', ‘Toy Story').  

The Door has already won a number of awards including the IFTA award for Best Short Film and a Best Director prize at the Grand OFF, World OFF Awards in Warsaw. The Door was produced by Octagon Films under the Short Cuts scheme funded by the IFB and RTÉ and is based on the true story of a father and his young daughter set in Russia 1986.  Juanita Wilson is currently directing her debut feature film As If I Am not There with funding from the IFB.

The Framework short produced by Darragh O'Connell is on a shortlist of 10 films being considered for the Best Animation Short Film category.  Five of these films will be voted by the Short Films and Feature Animation member branch on February 2^nd.

Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty the Framework short produced by Darragh O'Connell with Producers of the Year Brown Bag Films has already had international success.  The short has picked up Audience Awards at the Omaha Film Festival, US and Cinegal Festival in Montreal as well a Best Animation IFTA, a Best Animation Gold Heart Award in Australia and an Outstanding Achievement in Short Animation Filmmaking at the Newport Beach Film Festival in California.

The short film has proved such a success that a new cartoon series ‘Granny O'Grimm' is being made at the moment by Brown Bag Films.  Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty was funded by the IFB, RTÉ and the Arts Council.

The nominations will be decided in February 2010 and the 82nd Academy Awards® will take place in Los Angeles on 7^th March 2010