French filmmaker Patrick Jean had made several short animations before hitting the big time with the short short film, Pixels. Adam Sandler (The Wedding Singer) liked it so much that he struck a deal with Jean to turn his simple, high-concept idea into a Ghostbusters-like action comedy. Pixels sees New York invaded by a bunch of 8-bit creatures (such as Donkey Kong and Pac-Man) before the pixilation spreads and quickly takes over the whole world.
Oktapodi, made by a consort of French animators, could easily be used as an example of the animation short film as well as a short short movie. In it an octapus fights with great gusto to save his tentacled lover from the chef's knife. Set on the Greek island of Santorini, it is beautiful and funny. Oktapodi's six credited directors: Julien Bocabeille, Francois-Xavier Chainous, Olivier Delbarre, Thierry Marchand, Quentin Marmier and Emud Mokhberi.
Omnibus, co-written by Sam Karmann & Christian Rauth, won the Best Short Film Oscar, Palme d'Or and BAFTA during the 1992/1993 awards season (that's a grand slam in my British-biased books). It is a black comedy about a man on a non-stop train desparately trying to convince first the conductor and then the driver to let him off at an intermediate station. Karmann is now best known as an actor on French TV, for which he also continues to direct.
Written and directed by Frenchmen François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy & Ludovic Houplain, Logorama won the Best Short Animation Oscar in 2010. It is a computer animation with a vibrant, Pulp Fiction feel to it (so expect some strong language straight up!) that starts with the Michelin police spying the fugitive, Ronald McDonald, and pursuing him through a Los Angeles comprised entirely of logos. Cool! The sound was done by the uploader here, Human.