Toei Animation’s 2024 3DCG anime short film Magic Candies has been nominated for an Oscar in the “Best Animated Short Film” at this year’s 97th Academy Awards. The full list of nominees were announced this past week by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The other nominees in the “Best Animated Short Film” category include Beautiful Men, In the Shadow of the Cypress, Wander to Wonder, and Yuck! No feature-length Japanese anime film were nominated in the Oscar’s “Best Animated Feature” category this year. Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and The Heron won the award in 2023.
Magic Candies was directed by Daisuke Nishio (Dragon Ball Z series director episodes 1-199) and produced by Takashi Washio (Pretty Cure producer). The short film is based on the Korean picture book Amedama that was created by South Korean author Baek Hee-na, who also wrote the film’s screenplay. Naoki Sato (Assassination Classroom) composed the musical score.
Other staff involved in the short anime film include Tsuyoshi Shimizu (009 Re:Cyborg) as CG supervisor, Sachiko Eba as art director, and Kazuhiro Nishikawa (Miss Hokusai CG Producer) as animation producer.
Magic Candies was also honored with the following awards and distinctions at several film festivals, which had its world premiere at the 2024 New York International Children Film Festival:
- • 25th New York International Children Film Festival (U.S.) — Short Competition Winner of Jury Award, Animated Short
- • 64th Zlin Film Festival – International Film Festival for children and youth (Czech Republic) — International Jury for Short Animation for children – Golden Slipper for Best Short Animation for children
- • 19th Sapporo International Short Film Festival (Japan) — Japan Premiere Award
- • 38th Cinekid Festival (The Netherlands) — Best International Short Film
- • 43rd Cambridge Film Festival (U.K.) — Audience Award
- • 31st KINEKO International Film Festival (Japan) — Short Competition Winner of Japanese Film Award
Baek Hee-na was the 2020 laureate of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Her works Magic Candies and I Am A Dog are published by Storybowl in Korea and Bronze Publishing in Japan.
Toei Animation describes the premise of Magic Candies as:
“Playing alone isn’t so bad.”
The other kids at the park never ask Dong-Dong to play. That’s ok. He’s fine just playing marbles on his own. One day, he buys a bag of colorful candies instead of new marbles. The first time he pops one of them into his mouth, his old sofa starts talking to him! The two share an unexpected conversation before the sweet melts away. As it happens, the people, animals, and objects in Dong-Dong’s life have a lot to say.
Source: Toei Animation YouTube Channel, Official Anime Website, Anime News Network
