You asked if The Missing Lynx got released in the states. It did have a limited release, primarily so it would be eligible for Oscar consideration. Its creators didn’t expect it to make the final cut, let alone win, but they submitted it anyway to help ensure that there were enough entries to allow the maximum number of finalists. At the time it was an important move which resulted in it getting praised by animation enthusiasts, but I believe other movies were nominated later as well, which made its submission less... heroic.
Here is one site talking about the whole thing.