Award is 1st Oscar for the Montreal animation duo Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s haunting fable The Girl Who Cried Pearls is an Oscar winner—the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) production has been named Best Animated Short Film at the 98th Academy Awards, presented March 15 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
A celebration of the magic of stop-motion animation, The Girl Who Cried Pearls is a meticulously crafted story of a girl overwhelmed by sorrow, the boy who loves her, and how greed leads good hearts to wicked deeds.
The film features a star-studded creative team, including Colm Feore (voice), Patrick Watson (music) and Brigitte Henry as artistic director. Sound design is by Olivier Calvert, who was on Sylvain Bellemare’s team for the Denis Villeneuve film Arrival, winner of the 2017 Oscar for Sound Editing.
Since its debut in June 2025 at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where it was featured as an opening film and in official competition, The Girl Who Cried Pearls has screened at more than 45 festivals and received 14 awards and mentions.
This was the second trip down the red carpet for the acclaimed Montreal animation duo who captured global attention with their 2007 short film, Madame Tutli-Putli, which earned them their first Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short and kicked off a stellar 20-year collaboration with the NFB.
“At a time when our country’s spirit is winning accolades around the world, Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski have given Canadians another reason to be proud,” said Suzanne Guèvremont, Government Film Commissioner and NFB Chairperson. “Congratulations to the filmmakers, our producers and our talented creative team on The Girl Who Cried Pearls, a stop-motion marvel produced and set in Montreal. We’re honoured to be the home of visionary storytellers like Chris and Maciek, and to continue to champion great Canadian stories and talents to audiences here and across the globe.”
Where to watch
In Canada, The Girl Who Cried Pearls is now streaming for free on NFB.ca, YouTube and all NFB apps, and is also available to Crave subscribers (English only).
The film is available in French on Arte across Europe, North Africa and other territories.