If there’s one program about which Academy Awards audiences tend to feel uninformed, it’s the short film categories. Occasionally the movie is made available online or in the case of Disney/Pixar, it can be seen in theatres before their latest feature film. But that still leaves the majority of the 15 nominees with a tick in the “haven’t seen it” column. Those who are serious about their Oscar pools often feel at a loss when choosing the winner, relying on the buzz or best sounding synopsis to make their choice. In recent years, there’s been effort to erase this blind spot by providing theatrical screenings of the shorts collections prior to the ceremony. This year, the world’s only short movie channel, ShortsHD, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its famed Oscar shorts release by expanding to a record 450+ theatres across the United States, Canada, Europe and Latin America.
The Oscar Nominated Short Films will showcase the live action, animation and documentary short film nominees as three separate theatrical events. The Academy defines a short film as “an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits.” The subjects of the movies vary widely, but include chronic illness, suicide, old age and bullying on the gloomier side of things; and pet chickens, first photographs, love and time travel in the more upbeat tales.
The following is the list of nominees announced by the Academy on January 15 that will be shown in each program beginning January 30 and leading up to the awards ceremony February 22, as well as links to reviews of the films in each category. Dates, locations and more information about the theatrical screenings can be found on the ShortsHD website.
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM NOMINEES
Aya
Directors: Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
Synopsis: A young woman waiting at an airport has an unexpected encounter with an arriving passenger.
Countries of origin: France, Israel
TRT: 39:50 minutes
Language: English, Hebrew
Boogaloo and Graham
Directors: Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Synopsis: Jamesy and Malachy are presented with two baby chicks to raise by their soft-hearted father.
Country of origin: UK
TRT: 14:00 minutes
Language: English
Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak)
Directors: Hu Wei and Julien Féret
Synopsis: A photographer and his assistant photograph the inhabitants of a remote Tibetan village.
Countries of origin: France, China
TRT: 15:54 minutes
Language: Tibetan
Parvaneh
Directors: Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
Synopsis: An Afghan teenager living in a refugee center in Switzerland encounters difficulties wiring money to her family and asks a young Swiss woman for help.
Country of origin: Switzerland
TRT: 24:26 minutes
Language: German
The Phone Call
Directors: Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Synopsis: A woman working for a crisis center phone line receives a call from a suicidal older man.
Country of origin: UK
TRT: 20:56 minutes
Language: English
ANIMATED SHORT FILM NOMINEES
A Single Life
Director: Joris Oprins
Synopsis: A mysterious vinyl single gives a young woman the power to move back and forth through the years of her life.
Country of origin: Netherlands
TRT: 2:18 minutes
Language: English
The Bigger Picture
Directors: Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
Synopsis: Tensions arise between two brothers as their elderly mother requires more care.
Country of origin: UK
TRT: 7:27 minutes
Language: English
The Dam Keeper
Directors: Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Synopsis: A lonely little pig in charge of maintaining the town dam is cruelly bullied by his classmates
Country of origin: US
TRT: 18:08 minutes
Language: English
Feast
Directors: Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Synopsis: The story of the relationship between a young man and the stray puppy he takes in is told through the food the dog receives.
Country of origin: US
TRT: 7:00 minutes
Language: English
Me and My Moulton
Director: Torill Kove
Synopsis: Three sisters growing up in an unconventional Norwegian family ask their parents for a bicycle.
Country of origin: Canada
TRT: 13:08 minutes
Language: English
DOCUMENTARY SHORT NOMINEES
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Directors: Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
Synopsis: Each month, the Veterans Crisis Line receives over 22,000 calls from military veterans, who account for 20% of all suicides in the U.S. each year.
Country of origin: US
TRT: 41:00 minutes
Language: English
Joanna
Director: Aneta Kopacz
Synopsis: As she faces a terminal illness, the mother of a young son writes a blog in which she tries to leave a record of what she hopes to teach him.
Country of origin: Poland
TRT: 40:00 minutes
Language: Polish
Our Curse
Directors: Tomasz Śliwiński and Maciej Ślesicki
Synopsis: A mother and father face the difficulties of caring for a baby who has been born with a life-threatening congenital breathing disorder known as Ondine’s curse.
Country of origin: Poland
TRT: 27:09 minutes
Language: Polish
The Reaper (La Parka)
Director: Gabriel Serra Arguello
Synopsis: For the past 25 years, Efrain has worked in a slaughterhouse, where he has developed an intimate relationship with both death and what one must sometimes do to live.
Country of origin: Mexico
TRT: 29:33 minutes
Language: Spanish
White Earth
Director: J. Christian Jensen
Synopsis: Three children and an immigrant mother face a long and difficult winter in North Dakota, which has attracted many people seeking work during an oil boom.
Country of origin: US
TRT: 19:31 minutes
Language: English
