Academy Awards make CIFF Oscar-qualifying festival

The Calgary International Film Festival is now an Oscar-qualifying festival for short films.

That means that going forward, winners of CIFF's annual Best of Shorts Award will be able to submit their films to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science in two categories Best Animated and Live Action Short.

A film can only be considered for an Oscar nomination if it has had atheatrical run or isnominated by a qualifying festival a designation CIFF now holdsalong with big players like Cannes and Sundance.

"They can they submit to the Academy and they can be looked at, even though they didn't have a theatrical run," saidLaura Carlson, marketing and communications manager for CIFF.

"This a testament to the strength of CIFF's short film section, and especially the talent of the filmmakers," Steve Schroeder, executive director of the festival said in a media release.

"We are delighted and humbled to join the small and distinguished group of Oscar-qualifying film festivals."

In December, theEdmonton International Film Festival also got the Oscar stamp of approval joiningfour other Canadian festivals approved by the Academy to put forward nominations for short films:

• Canadian Screen Awards
• Ottawa International Animation Festival
• Montreal Festival Du Noveau Cinema
• Montreal World Film Festival

Bear Story, the 2015 Best of Shorts winner at CIFF,has just been nominated for an Academy Award inthe 2016 Best Animated Short category.

Calgary can't take credit for that because itsdesignation does not kick in until the 2016 festival, this fall. Bear Story has won numerous awards at otherOscar-qualifying festivals.