In addition to The Sweet Hereafter’s two Oscar nominations, Sylvain Chomet’s La Vielle Dame Et Les Pigeons (The Old Lady and the Pigeons) is vying for an award in the short animated film category.

The 24-minute, traditional cel animation film won a ’97 Genie and is a coproduction between Montreal’s Productions Pascal Blais, Les Armateurs, France, and Odec Kid Cartoons, Belgium.

The Old Lady and the Pigeons is in the running against Studio Shar’s The Mermaid, directed by Alexandre Petrov; Pixar’s Geri’s Game, directed by Jan Pinkava; TVC Cartoons’ Famous Fred, directed by Joanna Quinn; and Walt Disney Television Animation’s Little Redux Riding Hood, directed by Steve Moore.

The bbc animation unit has commissioned a sequel from Chomet, The Old Lady and the Cyclist.

Blais is currently producing an animated imax film, The Old Man and the Sea, written and directed by Russian director Petrov. Coincidentally, Petrov’s latest film, The Mermaid, is also nominated for a ’98 Oscar. The Old Lady and the Pigeon won the prestigious Grand Prize at last year’s Annecy International Film Festival. Petrov’s Mermaid took the Special Jury Award at Annecy while an earlier film, The Cow, was nominated for an Oscar in 1990.

Egoyan is up against Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty), Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting), Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) and James Cameron (Titanic) for the best director Oscar.

In the category of best screenplay based on material previously published, The Sweet Hereafter faces competition from Donnie Brasco, L.A. Confidential, Wag The Dog and The Wings of the Dove.

If you were wondering what a couple of Oscar nominations cost, Alliance spent half a million u.s. dollars to get the attention of Academy members.

Robert Patillo, senior vp corporate communications, says Alliance worked closely with u.s. distributor Fine Line on the strategic campaign that involved sending tapes of the film to Academy members, taking out ‘for your consideration’ ads in the u.s. trades and holding screenings around the country. The initiative was supplemented with a follow-up telephone campaign in which Academy members were asked to confirm if they had received a screening tape or if they would like to attend a screening.