A Chinese animated film featuring a series of gongbi-style paintings has successfully passed the initial round of screening for the Best Animated Short Film category for the 2017 Academy Award.

Entitled Beautiful Forest, the short film is rather a tragic story. It depicts the nature of birds - perching and preying on animals - and ends with a gun shot and a screen revealing a hole in the painting, according to China Daily.

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According to its director, scriptwriter and painter Yang Chun, the film aims to regenerate the venerable paintings of China. Behind the scenes of such a creative film entails freehand sketching and tens of thousands of paintings just to capture birds' delicate moves - from the turning of heads to spreading of wings.

Aside from that, Yang also had to deal with the complexity of color modulation. He revealed that it took hours just to get the right tone of a leaf.

Among the age-old paintings featured in the film are Emperor Huizong's Golden Pheasant and Peony (1082-1135) and Lin Chun's Bird and Perch.

The movie has no lyrics, and viewers get to enjoy the sound of ancient instruments as the musical background.

Yang's masterpiece has been screened in Los Angeles and will compete for the Oscar's Best Animated Short Film title in 2017.

Meanwhile, Gongbi paintings, which mean detailed strokes, are characterized by fine meticulous brushwork that demarcate intricate details with accuracy and without expressive or artistic variations. The Cultural China website says that these paintings highly show figural or narrative objects, appear colorful, and focus even on minute details.

TagsBeautiful Forest, Best Animated Short Film, Oscar 2017, Yang Chun, Gongbi paintings, Academy Awards 2017