by Apple won its first short animation Oscar for the sentimental The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. Intimate and beautifully hand-drawn animation reflects life and couldn’t be more apt for Apple.
The tech giant’s mantra is “Simplicity, Creativity, and Humanity,” and illustrator Charlie Mackesy’s meditation on the meaning of it all through the meandering minds of the title characters sits charmingly in harmony with Apple’s first animated short Oscar. The animation has a clean design and a delicate, universal message that just suits Apple well.
This short film won the 95th Academy Awards and is based on the book by Mackesy, who also directed it. The short debuted on Apple TV Plus on Christmas Day 2022 and was also broadcast on the BBC in the UK. (Charlie Mackesy is included in our list of beautiful pencil drawings to inspire you.)
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse was Apple’s only win at this year’s Oscars, although it made history in 2022 by winning the Best Picture Oscar for CODA. But winning with such a sweet short feels good, and Apple CEO Tim Cook was quick to congratulate the talent behind the winning animated short on Twitter, writing, “Your beautiful short tells an enduring story about the importance of kindness, acceptance and hope .”
Congratulations to the team behind The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse on their Academy Award! Her beautiful short film tells an enduring story about the importance of kindness, acceptance and hope.March 13, 2023
Other nominees for Best Animated Short Film included Pamela Ribon and Sara Gunnarsdóttir’s hilarious My Year Of Dicks; The Flying Sailor by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby; Ice Cream Vendor by João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano; and Lachlan Pendragon’s fourth groundbreaking stop-motion short, An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It.
The beauty of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse’s success, both as an Oscar-winning animated film and as a book (which has sold eight million copies worldwide), is that it proves that anything is possible for aspiring artists is. Illustrator Mackesy created the drawings during the Covid lockdown and posted them on Instagram to help people get through the pandemic. A deep sense of kindness is at the heart of Mackesy’s illustrations and film, and it all comes together in simple yet effective art and character design.
Animation is in a great place right now, with the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Doodle animation looking incredible and streaming services like Apple Plus and Netflix keen to promote and create original animated content. If you love animation, take a look at our feature in the best animated shorts for inspiration to create your own; and if you want to do that, check out our top 10 animation tips and tricks.
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