French film students win Oscar nod

Six former students are preparing for the night of their lives, after their short animated film was nominated for an Oscar.

The computer-generated film, Garden Party, was made by école d'animation d'Arles (MoPA) students Florian Babikian, Vincent Rayoux, Victor Caire, Théophile Dufrense, Gabriel Grapperon and Lucas Navarro as their graduating project in 2016.

It is a dark tale of a group of amphibians as they explore the strange new world of a mysteriously abandoned mansion in Beverly Hills.

Garden Party - Trailer from Illogic on Vimeo.

Co-director Mr Dufresne told France TV Info: "Going from school to the Oscars is pretty rock' n' roll, we didn't plan to go that far. You make the most of it, you meet lots of people, it's crazy."

The group spent 10 months on their project, putting in an estimated 20,000 hours of work into the seven-minute film.

Garden Party was nominated for the statuette alongside Pixar’s Lou, German stop-motion Negative Space, British entry Revolting Rhymes, and Dear Basketball - which has brought together composer John Williams and sports legend Kobe Bryant.