In 1997 the Academy presented its first “Shorts!” program in the spring, following that year’s Academy Awards ceremony. The event sold out every year thereafter, as audiences embraced the opportunity not only to see the nominees and winners in the Animated and Live Action Short Film categories, but also to hear from some of the filmmakers.

Flash forward to 2005. The Academy began screening the nominated short films the week before the Oscars®, when the winners were yet to be determined. Last year Taylor Hackford, producer-director of Ray and a past Live Action Short Film winner himself, hosted panel discussions with the nominated filmmakers to the delight of a capacity crowd.

Although the 80th Academy Awards nominees are still a mystery, “Shorts!” promises those in attendance an exclusive insider’s look at the top short films of 2007 before the winners are announced on Sunday, February 24.

Pictured here from the animated shorts category (left to right): Maciek Szczerbowski and Chris Lavis, directors of Madame Tutli-Putli; Hugh Welchman and Suzie Templeton, producer and director of Peter & the Wolf, respectively; Academy Award-winning writer, producer-director and Academy Governor Curtis Hanson, who hosted the evening; Josh Raskin, director of I Met the Walrus; and Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse, director and producer of Meme les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven), respectively.		Pictured here from the live action shorts category (left to right): Guido Thys, director of Tanghi Argentini; Andrea Jublin, director of Il Supplente (The Substitute); Anja Daelemans, producer of Tanghi Argentini; Academy Award-winning writer, producer-director and Academy Governor Curtis Hanson; Daniel Barber, director of The Tonto Woman; and Christian E. Christiansen, director of At Night.