Welsh movie nominated for Best Animated Short Film at this year's Oscars

A Welsh animated short film entitled Affairs of the Art has been nominated for an Oscar.

It is on the shortlist in the Best Animated Short Film category for the 2022 Academy Awards.

Affairs of the Art tells the story of Beryl, a 59-year-old factory worker who is obsessed with drawing and determined to become a hyper-futurist artist.

The film was made by 11 alumni from the University of South Wales (USW), including Joanna Quinn, an animation graduate of USW, and Les Mills, former course leader at USW.

Joanna and Les established Beryl Productions in the 1980s and specialise in hand-drawn character animation. 

The new film continues the Beryl series, that began with 1987’s Girls’ Night Out, and has already won more than 20 awards from festivals around the world.

Among the 11 USW alumni who worked on the film were Mia Rose Goddard, James Nutting, Eliot Cseh, Bryony Evans, Gemma Roberts, Becky Peel, Alex Thompson, Yoana Georgieva, Daniel Evans and Lauren Orme.

Several other graduates from the university have also been recognised in this year's Oscars nominations. Two alumni who studied Visual Effects & Motion Graphics at USW were part of the team working on sci-fi adventure movie Dune, which is listed in 10 award categories.

Another two former USW students worked on Spider-Man: No Way Home, which has been nominated for Best Visual Effects.

Tom Ware, Director of Production and Performance at USW, said: "To see so many of our Film & TV School Wales graduates featured at the highest levels in the industry, on such a globally-recognised roll call of achievement is fantastic.

"Once again, the creativity and professionalism of our graduates is testament to the talent and opportunities nurtured during their studies here at USW."

The 94th Annual Academy Awards ceremony takes place on Sunday 27 March in Los Angeles.