Explore a selection of award-winning and internationally acclaimed Australian short animated films in our latest curated collection, Animated Shorts.

The NFSA has over 1,000 Australian animated short films in the collection. We also collect documentation for these productions, including storyboards and photographs.

From Leisure to The Lost Thing

Our Animated Shorts curated collection features a selection from the last five decades – full films as well as representative clips – and an early example of the art form from the 1920s.

The first Australian animated short film to win an Academy Award was Bruce Petty's Leisure (1976). Other films to win the Best Short Film (Animated) Oscar include Harvie Krumpet (Adam Elliot, 2003) and The Lost Thing (Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan, 2010).

In 2018, Andrew Goldsmith and Bradley Slabe's Lost and Found (see behind-the-scenes image above) made the 10-film Oscar pre-nomination shortlist and you can watch the film here, and in the collection:

Animated shorts in the curated collection encompass analogue techniques like hand-drawn cel animation, through to 2D and stop-motion animation and purely digital works complete with 3D computer-generated imagery.

Regardless of how they were made, these shorts encapsulate the creative vision of the filmmakers and are labours of love, often taking many years to produce.

Enjoy a selection of Australian short animated films held by the NFSA in our latest curated collection, Animated Shorts.