Oscar® Nominees Honored at Shorts Awards

February 22, 2013 Beverly Hills, CA--- ShortsHD™,The Short Movie Channel announced this evening the winners of the Shorts Awards 2013, a celebration of outstanding achievement in short films and the most prestigious shorts from around the world. The evening honors the Oscar® Nominated Short Filmmakers at the Shorts Awards during a special star-studded ceremony held at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills. The event marked the 3rd installment of the Shorts Awards, which has become the must-attend event Friday night before the Oscars®.

During the ceremony, ShortsHD™ presented the Nominees Award to the 15 Oscar® Nominated 2013 Shorts in the Live Action, Animation and Documentary categories.

At Friday's Shorts Awards, ShortsHD™ honored five industry luminaries with the Shorts Visionary Awards, recognizing established filmmakers and actors who embrace the medium's reputation for bucking the trend, contributing their considerable talents to innovative short movies that embody the genre's best qualities.

The 2013 Shorts Visionary Awards were given to the following honorees:

Visionary Actor-Martin Freeman- Martin Freeman's acting career encompasses classic roles in films such as "Love Actually", "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy," and most recently as Bilbo Baggins in the classic "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey".  Martin Freeman has created an incredible body of work in short films, and provided important support to the work of emerging and established short movie directors, writers, and producers.

Visionary Actress - Julia Louis-Dreyfus- Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus who has won Emmys for her iconic television roles including HBO's "Veep," "Seinfeld," and "The New Adventures of Old Christine" is a big supporter of short films. She recently starred and co-produced "Picture Paris," a short film directed by Brad Hall, making the jump into short film so successfully and bringing her own unique and always funny presence into the medium.

Visionary Leader - Nik Powell- Nik Powell is one of the founders of The Virgin Group with Sir Richard Branson. Powell established himself as an acclaimed producer of feature films with such credits as "The Crying Game, Mona Lisa," "The Company of Wolves," "Fever Pitch," and "Twenty Four Seven." Today Powell is Chairman of Scala Productions and is the director of the National Film and Television School in England, one of the leading and most prestigious centers for education in film and TV in the world.

Visionary Director - Matthew Modine- Matthew Modine's film roles include "Full Metal Jacket," "Birdy," "Vision Quest," and most recently "The Dark Knight Rises." Modine has worked with some of the most highly regarded directors in the industry and he has a tremendous passion for directing short films. Modine has directed a number of short films and has chosen the medium of short film to bring his stories to life.

Visionary Animator - Joan Gratz- Joan Gratz is an accomplished director, artist, and animator. She pioneered the animation technique known as clay painting, working with bits of clay she blends colors and etches fine lines to create a seamless flow of images. She won the Academy Award in 1992 for her animated short "Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase." Since establishing her own studio, Gratz film in 1987, she has received many honors for independent short films and commercials. Most recently Gratz taught clay painting to animation students in Tehran, Iran.

The Shorts Awards also honored the following 2013 Oscar® Nominees in the Short Film categories of Live Action, Animation and Documentary:

Animation

• "Adam & Dog"- Minkyu Lee
• "Fresh Guacamole"- PES, Sarah Phelps
• "Head Over Heels"- Timothy Reckart, Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly 
• "Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare'"- David Silverman 
• "Paperman"- John Kahrs, Kristina Reed

Live Action

• "Asad"- Bryan Buckley, Mino Jarjoura
• "Buzkashi Boys"- Sam French, Ariel Nasr
• "Curfew"- Shawn Christensen,
• "Death of a Shadow"- Tom Van Avermaet, Ellen De Waele
• "Henry"- Yan England

Documentary

• "Inocente"- Sean Fine and Andrea Nix,
• "King's Point"- Sari Gilman, Sari Gilman, Jedd Wilder
• "Mondays at Racine"- Cynthia Wade, Robin Honan
• "Open Heart" - Kief Davidson, Cori Shepherd Stern
• "Redemption"- Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill

"Tonight we celebrated the achievements of the next generation of filmmakers and visionaries who have truly embraced the world of shorts," ShortsHD™ CEO Carter Pilcher commented. "We are delighted to bring global attention to achievements at the pinnacle of global short filmmaking.

In 2010, to heighten the public's awareness of short movies and the Oscar® nominees, ShortsHD™ launched the Shorts Awards on the Friday night before the Oscars® in Los Angeles.  In addition to honoring each of the 15 nominees, the organization bestowed the first "Lifetime Achievement Award in Short Film" on John Lasseter and three Visionary Awards to established filmmakers who have embraced short films, including Melissa Leo (who also won Best Supporting Actress), Kenneth Branagh and June Foray. Since then - ShortsHD™ has bestowed honors on film making greats such as Bill Plympton as Visionary Animator and Nick Parks for Lifetime Achievement.

About ShortsHD™

ShortsHD™ is the first high definition channel dedicated to short movies and is available on DIRECTV (Channel 568), and AT&T U-Verse (Channel 1789). ShortsHD™ is operated by Shorts International, the world's leading short movie entertainment company with the world's largest movie catalogue dedicated to short movies. Shorts International also operates ShortsTV™, which is available in France, Belgium, Luxembourg on Numericable (Channels 134 and 52) and in Turkey via TTNET's Tivibu service. Shorts™ is the short movie on-demand service available on iTunes movie stores in the US, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Taiwan and throughout Europe. The company is headquartered in London, England with additional offices in Paris and Los Angeles and is led by Carter Pilcher, Chief Executive. Shorts International is owned by Shorts Entertainment Holdings and Liberty Global Ventures.