Shortlisted for the 2011 Academy Awards, its disappointing that Moritz Mayerhofer's was left off this year's nominee list despite being one of the year's most emotionally rewarding and uniquely crafted animated shorts.

Urs has looked after his mother for years, but now he sets out on a journey with his mother up a mountain to find her a better home despite her own objections. A German short, Urs is a story about responsibility and how our intertwining relationships help decide what is ultimately "right" and responsible. Urs has played in over 30 film festivals nationwide, bringing home numerous festival honors for Mayerhofer, for whom Urs is his final project before film school graduation in Germany. Urs also has a 3-D version that, if possible, one should see given Mayerhofer's extraordinary landscapes and visual layers.

Peter Gromer's original music for Urs is a perfect collaboration with Mayerhofer and is nicely realized by Michael Diehl's atmospheric sound design that weaves together the intimacy of the story with its universal physical and emotional landscapes.