Watch: ‘Bear Story’ directed by Gabriel Osorio & produced by Pato Escala Pierart
“A political allegory that reflects upon Chile’s history”, The Wrap
Gabriel Osorio’s ‘Bear Story’ won the Academy award for Best Animated Short on Sunday at the Oscars, winning amongst a selection of great animations including Pixar‘s ‘Sanjay’s Super Team’, Richard William’s ‘Prologue’ and Don Hertzfeldt’s ‘World Of Tomorrow’.
Written and Directed by Osorio, the film tells the touching story of lonely bear trying to bring life to his family memories through the construction of a mechanical diorama. Inspired by his once-exiled grandfather and reflecting on Chile’s dark political period of Pinochet’s dictatorship, the Chilean director produced this animation in collaboration with studio PunkRobot. Here’s a bit of behind-the-scenes taste:
In a recent interview, Osorio mentioned that he wanted to create a story that could be seen by anyone, both children and adults and for that reason “… it was important not to be literal or focus only on the historical or political aspects, but instead create a story that could speak about feelings and emotions with which any person can identify”.
Released in 2014, the short has received over 50 international awards including: Best Animation at the Palm Springs Shortfest (2015), Grand Jury Prize at Nashville Film Festival (2015), Best Animated Short at the RiverRun Film Festival (2015) , Audience Award at Florida Film Festival (2015) , Best Animated Short at the CIFF, Cleveland Ohio festival and at the DCIFF in Washington DC (2015), Best Animation at the AluCine Latin Film Festival in Canada (2015), Best Short Film at SANFIC in Chile (2014), Grand Prize at the Kuandu International Festival in Taiwan (2014), Best National Short Film at Chilemonos (2014), Best Art Direction & Best Children’s Short Film at the Animamundi festival (2014) as well as the International Film award at Little Big Shots in Australia (2014).