Swiss animation competes for Oscar glory

The film tells the story of a nine-year-old boy who is put in a children’s home after the death of his mother in an accident. Praesens Film AG

The animated film Ma vie de courgette (My life as a courgette) by Valais director Claude Barras has been nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Feature category.

Joining the Swiss film in the category are Zootopia, Kubo and the Two Strings, Moana, and The Red Turtle, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is organising the annual ceremony, announced on Tuesday.

The film had been shortlisted in the Foreign Language Film category but failed to gain a nomination.

The French-language Swiss animation film tells the story of a nine-year-old boy who is put in a children’s home after the death of his mother in an accident. It took ten months to complete, as it uses stop-motion, which consists of moving each figure millimetre by millimetre for each frame. The director needed on average an entire day just to complete a 20-second sequence.

The film score was written by acclaimed Swiss singer-songwriter Sophie Hunger. My life as a courgette cost CHF8 million ($8.2 million) to make and was a co-production of Swiss public television, RTS.

The 66-minute film has already won 17 international film prizes. Earlier this month it narrowly failed to win a Golden Globe, a prestigious American film and television award.

Two other Swiss film productions are competing for a prize. La Femme et le TGV, by director Timo von Gunten, is in the race for Best Live Action Short Film. In the documentary feature category, the Swiss-US co-production I Am Not Your Negro by director Raoul Peck is also in contention. 

In a series of tweets SWISSFILMSExternal link, which promotes Swiss movies, congratulated the Swiss productions for their nominations adding ‘we are very proud and happy’.

The awards ceremony will be held in Hollywood on February 26.