The Oscar-Commended, George Takei-Narrated Animated Short You Should See Now
Every year, the independent E Street Cinema in Washington, DC, [that’s per magazine house style; yours may differ] features a showing of films nominated in the Best Animated Short Film and Best Live-Action Short Film categories of the Academy Awards. As a movie-lover, I go every year. It’s an opportunity for me at Oscar parties (admit it: you love them!) to actually judge films most people haven’t had the opportunity to watch.
Two years ago, I was deeply moved by the animated film The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (it will bring tears to your eyes, I guarantee it), which won the Academy Award that year. Since then, I’ve been hooked. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to see, at this year’s showing, a film titled The Missing Scarf, directed by Irish filmmaker Eoin Duffy and narrated by actor (and the American Humanist Association’s 2011 LGBT Humanist Pride Awardee) George Takei. Watch the thirty-second trailer here.
Without giving everything away (after all, the film is only seven minutes long), story centers on Albert, a squirrel who is seeking his missing scarf and encounters three friends along the way who help put his problem into perspective. As perfectly described on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), the film explores “some of life’s common fears: fear of the unknown, of failure, rejection and finally, the fear of death”—topics which, no doubt, many humanists and atheists have encountered in their own path to secularism. Takei’s familiar, smooth voice adds humor to the story, especially during the film’s most heightened scenes.
The Missing Scarf, unfortunately, wasn’t nominated for an Oscar this year, but it was one of three “Highly Commended” animated shorts that followed the five officially nominated films: Feral, Get a Horse!, Mr. Hublot, Possessions, and Room on the Broom.
If you’re lucky to live in a town where the 2014 Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films are being screened (check your local independent theater), go see them, and impress everyone at your Oscar party.
(If you can’t watch The Missing Scarf at your local theater, it’ll be available online later in the year. You can sign up for updates on the movie’s official site at www.themissingscarf.com.)