The Utah makers of “Napoleon Dynamite” can now add another title: Oscar nominees.
Directors Jared and Jerusha Hess’ first effort at animation, “Ninety-Five Senses,” was named Tuesday morning as one of the five nominees in the Academy Awards’ animated short film category.
“I’m weeping like a baby over here in Sugar House,” Jerusha Hess said in a statement sent to The Tribune. “What an honor to have made this film with such a talented and creative team.”
(Salt Lake Film Society MAST) An image from "Ninety-Five Senses," an animated short film directed by Utah filmmakers Jared and Jerusha Hess. The film received an Academy Award nomination on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024.
Actors Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid announced the nominees early Tuesday at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Los Angeles. The Oscars will be handed out on Sunday, March 10, in a ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, starting at 5 p.m. Mountain time, and televised on ABC-Channel 4 in Utah.
Among the major categories, Christopher Nolan’s atomic drama “Oppenheimer” led with 13 nominations, and is considered the front-runner for Best Picture. The surreal science-fiction satire “Poor Things” received 11 nominations, and Martin Scorsese’s Oklahoma-set murder drama “Killers of the Flower Moon” received 10. “Barbie” received eight nominations — though, notably, not for Margot Robbie’s performance in the title role or Greta Gerwig’s directing.
The Hesses’ 14-minute short is narrated by an elderly man (voiced by Tim Blake Nelson) describing the wonders of the human senses, and the memories each one evokes. The memories start out pleasant, but soon take a dark turn.
Each of the senses is depicted by a different team of animators, 14 in all, through a spectrum of animation styles.
The short film’s writers, Chris Bowman and Hubbel Palmer, wrote for the short-lived “Napoleon Dynamite” animated TV series, and wrote “Masterminds,” the 2015 heist comedy that Jared Hess directed.
The movie was produced as part of the Salt Lake Film Society’s MAST media accelerator program. The program’s director, Miles David Romney, and SLFS’s president/CEO, Tori A. Baker, are credited as the film’s producers. The film also received support from the Utah Film Commission.
A “significant portion” of the film’s artists and crew are from Utah, Baker said in a statement.
“This project was a true community project,” Baker said, “bringing together local and international talent, who each gave their time and dedication to building a collaborative animation work that would highlight the distinct talents of six animators.”
The MAST program, Baker said, aims “to create artist entrepreneurs and nurture the industry of animation in our state.”
It is the Hesses’ first effort at animation. Their first animated feature, “Thelma the Unicorn,” based on Aaron Blabey’s children’s book, is slated to be released on Netflix later this year. Jared Hess is currently in New Zealand, directing his first blockbuster, the movie adaptation of the “Minecraft” video game.
In an interview earlier this month, Jerusha Hess said “Ninety-Five Senses” was “probably the most important movie that we will ever make, that probably no one will ever see.”
The 15 movies nominated in the short-film categories — animated, documentary and live-action — traditionally are shown in theaters before the Academy Awards ceremony. Details for that program are still to be determined.
[Watch the film, on the MAST website, here.]
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