Lorenzo is a 2004 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation

Walt Disney Feature Animation

Walt Disney Animation Studios is an American animation studio headquartered in Burbank, California. The studio, founded in 1923 as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio by brothers Walt and Roy Disney, is the oldest subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...

 about a cat, Lorenzo, who is "dismayed to discover that his tail has developed a personality of its own." The short was directed by Mike Gabriel

Mike Gabriel

Mike Gabriel is an American animator and film director, best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios and as co-director of the Disney films The Rescuers Down Under and Pocahontas ....

 and produced by Baker Bloodworth. It premiered at the Florida Film Festival

Florida Film Festival

The Florida Film Festival, produced by Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida, is an annual international film festival. Showcasing the best American independent and foreign films, the festival has become one of the most respected regional film events in the United States.-Overview:The Festival...

 on March 6, 2004, and later appeared as a feature before the film Raising Helen

Raising Helen

Raising Helen is a 2004 American comedy-drama film directed by Garry Marshall and written by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler. It stars Kate Hudson, John Corbett, Joan Cusack, Hayden Panettiere, Spencer and his sister Abigail Breslin and Helen Mirren...

; however, it did not appear on the DVD release of the film. Work on the film began in 1943, but was shelved.

Plot

The short opens with Lorenzo lounging on the cushion. A black cat passes by, and Lorenzo can't help but express his glee that the stray is missing his tail. He flaunts his own luxurious backside accessory, and goads the cat with expansive displays of tailery. As Lorenzo laughs the black cat casts a hex, bringing Lorenzo's tail to energetic life. Lorenzo is little more than perturbed until the tail's incessant motion begins to take its toll. The pampered cat grows both exhausted and desperate, as it becomes apparent that even the most extreme measures (such as high voltage electrocution, drowning, and being run over by a train) will not quiet his tail. At junctures the black cat appears and offers Lorenzo a knife, his intentions clear. Lorenzo resists him just as strongly as he does his tail advances. Lorenzo is however, finally driven to capitulate and severs his own glorious tail.

Work

The work for Lorenzo started around 1943, but was left unreleased.
It was unearthed along with Destino

Destino

Destino is an animated short film released in 2003 by The Walt Disney Company. Destino is unique in that its production originally began in 1945, 58 years before its eventual completion...

.

Awards

Lorenzo was nominated for the Academy Award for Short Film (Animated) at the 77th Academy Awards

77th Academy Awards

The 77th Academy Awards honored the best films of 2004 and were held on February 27, 2005, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. They were hosted by comedian Chris Rock.The nominees were announced on January 25, 2005...

 in 2005. The short won the 2005 Annie Award

Annie Award

The Annie Awards have been presented by the Los Angeles, California branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972...

 for Best Animated Short Subject. It was included in the Animation Show of Shows

Animation show of shows

The Animation Show of Shows is a traveling selection of the year's best animated short films, curated and presented by Acme Filmworks founder, Ron Diamond. It began in 1998 with the aim of showing the most original, funny, intelligent short animated films from all over the world and presenting them...

in 2004.

External links

• Lorenzo at The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts
• Lorenzo Director / Production designer Mike Gabriel uses sequences of his production art to discuss his creative process on Lorenzo.