Spanish short film ‘Timecode’ among Academy Award nominees

Timecode arrived for consideration at the Academy hot off the back of its success at the Cannes Festival, where it won the Palme d’Or for the Best Short Film. Its 15 minutes of action focus on the peculiar relationship between two security guards in a parking garage. According to the director, speaking while at Cannes, it is a story of “secrets and discoveries” between a male and a female employee who cover different shifts at the lot.

“The two protagonists are dancers with long careers, Lali Ayguadé and Nicolas Ricchimi, and through them I explain that beauty can be found in the most unexpected places – and with two security guards,” Giménez explained at the festival.

Spanish short ‘Timecode’ nominated for 2017 Oscars nominado a los Oscar 2017

Although the director has already made three full-length features – one fiction, Tilt (2001), and two documentaries, Esquivar y pegar (2010) and Contact Proof (2014) – the director, scriptwriter and producer of Timecode says that short films are in his heart, and are not just a springboard to making a full-length movie.

His debut came in 1994 with Hora de cerrar, and that same year he created a production company called Salto de Eje, which later became Nadir Films.

His second short film, Especial con luz (1995) was chosen by a number of festivals and was acquired by Spain’s state broadcaster Televisión Española.

As well as Timecode, another Spanish short was among the 10 finalists being considered by the Academy for this year’s Oscars: Graffiti, from director Lluís Quilez, which did not make it through to the final nominations.

A total of 5,000 shorts were submitted to the Academy for consideration, which were later whittled down to a longlist of 150 entries, then 10 and finally the five definitive nominations announced on Tuesday.

English version by Simon Hunter.