Every year at Oscar season I try to find time to watch all of the shorts - live action, documentary and animated. The animation is usually the group that piques my interest the most. If you have time to watch all of the submissions, do it. If not, find time to watch Pear Cider and Cigarettes, a highly stylized noir story that reminds me of The Maxx, often exaggerated and grotesque in its proportions but to great effect.
It didn't win the Oscar - Pixar did with Piper - but it's still worth your eyeball time.
I'll admit it; somehow I managed to remain ignorant to the Vaughan Oliver body of work until recently. I've always been smitten with the early Pixies art and various other notablecovers but hadn't put it together that they all spawned from the same mind. Ignorance is not always bliss.
Regardless, if you are like me and have not done your research then might I suggest starting with this gallery or the Discogs deep dive, the results are inspiring.
I've been following Evan Husney for awhile now. He worked at Drafthouse for many years and now he's a producer at VICE. His latest undertaking is a show on Viceland entitled Outsider. The show premieres on March 17th and focuses on various underground filmmakers who have poured their heart and souls into their work and the results are.... questionable. Films like Miami Connection fall into that bucket; undeniably entertaining but clearly made by an outsider. See what I did there? That's the title of the show!