Opening today at Cinema Village is a program of several animated and live-action short films nominated for 2005 Academy Awards. Three of this year’s nominees are not included in the program, but this is a stellar collection, and it provides an excellent opportunity to see movies you otherwise can’t. The films included on this program are:

“Gopher Broke” (animated) A cute, computer-animated film focusing on a Gopher who sabotages dirt roads so fruit trucks will bounce their produce into the streets for him to eat. All is fine until some rival critters show up.

“Two Cars, One Night” (live action) This sweet New Zealand film shows three children (two brothers, and one girl), left in two cars by their parents at a roadside restaurant, talking and playing.

“Birthday Boy” (animated) In 1951 Korea, a boy wanders by himself throughout his village, witnesses a train carrying tanks, and subsequently plays war. This short goes for the heart but is not terribly substantial.

“Little Terrorist” (live action) This film, which takes place on the Pakistan-India border, follows a young boy who crawls through a minefield to retrieve his errant cricket ball. When border guards start shooting at him, he crosses the field into enemy territory, where he finds refuge with a local schoolteacher.

“Ryan” (animated) Chris Landreth’s surrealistically animated film documents Ryan Larkin, the famed and influential Canadian animator who worked during the 1960s and 1970s but subsequently destroyed his life with alcohol and drug abuse. This was the winner of this year’s best animated short film Oscar, and deservedly so.

“7:35 in the Morning” (live action) The best of the live-action works, this offbeat short sees a young woman go to a local cafe for a cup of coffee, only to be accosted by a strange man who holds the eatery’s customers hostage and forces them to sing to her.

“Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher” (animated) “If there are any Nazis here, you can be sure they’re up to no good!” declares Rex Steele as the superhero chases after his Third Reich enemies on a volcano-covered South American island. “Rex Steele” won a gold medal at the Student Academy Awards, and is very funny.

“Wasp” (live action) This British film won the Oscar for best Live Action short. It concerns an irresponsible mother of five, who keeps her children outside a local pub while she’s inside with her boyfriend. The film takes its title from one single, truly horrific, and unforgettable sequence.