Former NBA star Bryant's animated film among 2018 Oscar nominees

WASHINGTON - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their full list of Oscar nominees for 2018 on Tuesday and among them was former NBA star Kobe Bryant's animated film "Dear Basketball".

The film, which was directed by Disney animator Glen Keane and scored by John Williams, is an animated version of Bryant's "Dear Basketball" poem he penned for The Players Tribune in 2015.

In it, Bryant voices his poem as animation conveys Kobe's love of the game as he leaves it behind.

"What? This is beyond the realm of imagination," Bryant tweeted. "It means so much that the @TheAcademy deemed #DearBasketball worthy of contention. Thanks to the genius of @GlenKeanePrd & John Williams for taking my poem to this level. It's an honor to be on this team."

The animated film will be competing against "Garden Party" (by Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon), "Lou" (by Dave Mullins and Dana Murray), "Negative Space" (by Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata) and "Revolting Rhymes" (by Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer) for the 2018 Oscar. The Academy Awards will be announced March 5 on ABC.