Montreal-based filmmakers lead Canadian Oscar wins with animated short victory

Montreal filmmakers win best animated short at the Oscars, leading a strong night for Canada with four total Academy Awards.

A Montreal-based filmmaking duo is at the centre of Canada’s success at this year’s Academy Awards, winning best animated short film for The Girl Who Cried Pearls and helping drive a total of four Canadian victories on Hollywood’s biggest night.

Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski earned their first Oscar for the 2025 stop-motion film, produced with the National Film Board of Canada. The win also marks the 12th Academy Award for an NFB production.

Lavis said the film’s story is rooted in the city where it was created.

“For us, this is a fable set in Montreal. There’s a romantic quality to it and for that kind of story, puppet animation is the ideal vehicle,” he said.

Szczerbowski said making the film in Montreal was key, crediting a close-knit artistic community for its success.

“We’re very happy that we did that. Frankly, that’s where the credit is due,” he said. “That’s where we live. We started families there, and we live in a small little radius of just an insane wealth of talent.”

He said the project brought together collaborators across disciplines, from musicians to visual effects artists, many located within walking distance.

“What we managed to pull out of our small little community is the most meaningful thing to us,” he said, adding such a production would have been difficult to replicate in a sprawling hub like Los Angeles.