The hand-drawn pencil short has a delightful energy that’s undeniable (Quinn was assigned “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” for a TV adaptation of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales for good reason), with Beryl’s cellulite sauciness given ethereal buoyancy and vivacity. There’s a sensual, silly lustiness to Quinn’s work that’s been sadly overlooked by the Academy to date, and “Affairs of the Art” may well be her strangest work yet (with Beryl reminiscing about her sister’s lifelong obsession with dead things).

Menna Trussler returns for her third time as the raucous Welsh housewife, this time giving a little more insight into her home life, with long-suffering husband Len now her model as she gives in to her new artistic impulses.

There’s a different and much more affable history behind “Affairs of the Art,” the fourth in Joanna Quinn’s occasional trips into the life of the deliciously lewd Beryl. However, if you don’t know who Benhard was, “Bestia” does little to educate you. Covarrubias’ decision to cast Benhard’s head like an overly glazed and emotionless porcelain doll emphasizes her amorality, amplified by truly disturbing dream sequences in which Benhard embraces her inhumanity. Does that mean anything? Arguably not, beyond an opportunity for audiences to be exposed to stories with international resonances, like Hugo Covarrubias’ “Bestia.” A stop-motion trip inside the depraved mind of the monstrous Íngrid Benhard, the Chilean torturer known for grotesque reasons as the “Woman With the Dogs,” it put to rest the idea that the Academy never nominates horror films. Indeed, no American short made the list at all.

Disney and Pixar have an effective stranglehold on the Oscars’ animated feature category, taking three of the five nominations, but made no mark at all in the traditionally more experimental animated shorts.

Pencil animation short film