Welsh film secures 2022 Academy Awards nomination

A Welsh animated film has secured a nomination for the 2022 Academy Awards.

Affairs of the Art is the latest release from Cardiff’s Joanna Quinn and Les Mills and was initially one of 15 films on the Animated Short list announced in December.

The final nominations for the Oscars were unveiled today, with the winners of the film industry’s most prestigious award due to be announced on 27 March.

The other four films in the running for the golden statuette are Bestia (Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz) Boxballet (Anton Dyakov) Robin Robin (Dan Ojari and Mikey Please) and The Windshield Wiper (Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez).

This is Joanna’s third bid for an Oscar after being nominated previously for Famous Fred in 1997 and The Wife of Bath – Canterbury Tales Part 1 in 1998.

Joanna and Les expressed their shock at winning the nomination on Twitter and thanked the team that worked with them on the short.

This is the moment we learned our short animated film #AffairsoftheArt had been nominated for the Oscars! Shocked! Thx to #TeamBeryl because it was very much a team effort…and what a team ❤️ #Oscars #BerylattheOscars #BerylisBack pic.twitter.com/M3QQ9k22jn

— Joanna Quinn (@joannaq) February 8, 2022

The new film continues the Beryl series, that began with 1987’s Girls’ Night Out, followed by 1990’s Body Beautiful and 2006’s Dreams and Desires: Family Ties and has already secured over 20 awards from festivals around the world.

The film is the first co-production between Beryl Productions International and the National Film Board of Canada, and tells the story of Beryl, a 59-year-old factory worker who’s obsessed with drawing and determined to become a hyper-futurist artist.

S4C

The previous Beryl films were commissioned by Channel Four and clocked in at around the five-minute mark but the latest short runs for 16 minutes.

The Welsh Language version of the film, Y Cythraul Celf, had its TV premiere on S4C on Boxing Day.

Final Oscar voting begins on 17 March and ends on 22 March 22, with the 94th Annual Academy Awards ceremony taking place on Sunday 27 March at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.