Oscars 2023: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse wins Best Animated Short Film award

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse - an animated short film that revolved around the lives of four unusual friends - has won an Oscar under the Best Animated Short Film category. Directed by Charlie Mackesy and Peter Baynton, the film also marks Apple’s first Academy Award for an animated short. Released in December last year, the narrative is about a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse, who share truths about life as they search for a home. The boy, however, eventually finds out that home is not always a fixed place.

Described as a “magical fable, featuring a star-studded voice cast and luxurious hand-drawn animation”, the short left behind other nominees like Pamela Ribon and Sara Gunnarsdóttir’s My Year of Dicks, The Flying Sailor from Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, Ice Merchants from João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano, and Lachlan Pendragon’s An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It at the 95th Academy Awards. 

The film draws inspiration from the book of the same name by Charlie. In 2022, Apple Original Films acquired the movie and released it on Apple TV+ on Christmas Day. It was presented in collaboration with the BBC. The film stars Tom Hollander (as the mole), Idris Elba (as the fox), Gabriel Byrne (as the horse) and Jude Coward Nicoll (as the boy). 

Buoyed by the big win, Apple CEO Tim Cook congratulated the team behind The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse and tweeted saying, “Your beautiful short tells an enduring story about the meaning of kindness, acceptance and hope”.

The storyline traces the magical and dreamlike friendship of a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse, who are travelling together in the boy’s search for home. It is said to be a “story of kindness, friendship, courage and hope for viewers of all ages”.