PHOTOS: GKIDS aims to return as an Oscar contender

Last Oscar season, upstart New York film distributor GKIDS surprised many in the animation world by collecting two of the five nominations in the animated feature category — for the foreign-produced movies "Chico & Rita" (Spain) and "A Cat in Paris" (France). It was an impressive showing for a tiny, young company going up against such industry giants as Disney and DreamWorks Animation.

This year GKIDS qualified four upcoming movies in the Oscar race with a one-week theatrical run in Burbank in November — and will attempt, again, to win over the academy's animation branch with 2-D style, foreign-made films that feel far from Hollywood studio fare.

"It's excruciatingly difficult to make these movies," said GKIDS President Eric Beckman. "But it's a particularly rich crop for independent animation this year." Here's an overview of their releases: