An inside look at Oscar-nominated animated short film “Ninety-Five Senses,” co-written by Utah professor

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — For Utah filmmakers Jared and Jerusha Hess, 2024 marks two decades of their cult classic “Napoleon Dynamite” — but 2024 is also the year of their first Oscar nomination.

The animated short “Ninety-Five Senses” was one of the five nominees for Best Animated Short Film at the 96th Academy Awards. It was directed by Jared and Jerusha Hess, and co-written by Hubbel Palmer — a professor at the University of Utah — and Chris Bowman.

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While the Oscar ultimately went to “War is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko,” the nomination itself still felt like a win to the team who worked on “Ninety-Five Senses.”

Some of the short’s artists, filmmakers and crew are local to Utah, and ABC4.com spoke with Palmer and the film’s producer, Tori Baker of the Salt Lake Film Society, ahead of the big night. Baker is also the President and CEO of the Salt Lake Film Society.

The animated short “Ninety-Five Senses” is described as an ode to the body’s five senses as told by a man with little time left to enjoy them. It features the work of six different teams of animators — each of which used its own style to illustrate the final regrets of a death-row inmate.

“A lightbulb went off, and we were like, ‘What if we were to take a character like that and have him reminisce about his life, but sort of through the lens of his five senses,’” co-writer Palmer said.

The Salt Lake Film Society’s MAST program — a project aimed at mentoring post-graduate, emerging filmmakers — produced the animated short. The MAST program particularly focuses on animation.

“We did have an animation emphasis, so we really wanted to take our animators and give them the opportunity to work with those seasoned people in the industry and build a network,” Baker said. “And what the result was of was ‘Ninety-Five Senses.’”

Another result of that was the Oscar nomination, which Baker says already feels like a win.

“That’s telling us all the peers within the world of animation have recognized this in this way,” Baker said. “Now it’s open to the entire Academy who will sort of hold the gold statue, but this has been a really great ride.”

“Ninety-Five Senses” was the recipient of several awards, and had appeared in dozens of film festivals before the Oscar nomination, according to the U.

They said hundreds of films started on the film festival circuit along with “Ninety-Five Senses,” with that list eventually dwindling to a 15-film shortlist. Then the film was just one of five nominated for an Oscar.

“We never dreamed it would end up here,” Palmer said in January. “It’s been amazing to watch this simple story touch people in a deep way.”

But, with humans having just five senses, where does the title come from?

That’s a question that is best answered by watching the Oscar-winning animated short film yourself. The short is available on Documentary+, which provides access to free documentaries and other films.

The short film is less than 14 minutes long, including the credits, and is narrated in its entirety by Tim Blake Nelson. Each team of animators used its own art style for the sense that they animated during the short film.

Dominica Harrison and Scott McHenry animated the sequence for the sense of sight, Jared Mathews and Dallin Penman animated the sense of smell, Michael Grover animated the sense of hearing and KC Tobey animated the sense of taste.

The sense of touch was animated by Gabrielle Badillo with Adriana Arvisu, Tamara Cruz, Melissa Lopez, Cristina Luao, Ruben Morales and Enrique Sañudo. Daniel Bruson is credited for animating “Coy,” who is the character credited to Tim Blake Nelson.

The short film is less than 14 minutes long, including the credits, and is narrated in its entirety by Tim Blake Nelson. The short is available on Documentary+, which provides access to free documentaries and other films.

“We were blown away just to get on the short list, we did not expect this,” Palmer said. “This was a complete surprise to us, and then the day of nominations is just like… this is too much!”

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