Those who are not exactly Oscar obsessives often dismiss the short film categories as moments that make for a good time to use the restroom or have a snack during the ceremony. This is primarily fueled by the lack of familiarity with any of the titles, as short films are not given much importance in our society as a whole. This unfortunately means many are missing out on some of the most interesting and inventive filmmaking in the whole ceremony. These are the categories where you might discover the next Taika Waititi, Martin McDonagh (nominee this year for Best Director) or Andrea Arnold – all nominated for Best Live Action Short in the past. Plus, these three sections are where Oscar pools are made and broken. If you are a fan of film, you owe it to yourself to see what these sections have to offer. Every year ShortsTV brings these titles to cinemas, and this year is no different. Head to ShortsTV to discover an in-person cinema where you can view these films before the ceremony..
While we definitely encourage everyone to check out these shorts for themselves, we are going to do our best to guide you through the nominated films this year and give you our impression of what might take home the little gold man this Sunday.
Animation
If there is one thing you can count on every year in this section, it is that you will likely be treated to a family-friendly short film that seems destined to be the most broadly appealing. While Pixar is sitting this year out, AppleTV+ is taking up that mantle with their wintery fantasy The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse. Based on a wildly popular bestselling book, this tale of tolerance, love and friendship boils things down to very simple motivational observations that reminds you that the source material is geared towards children. The animation is beautiful and the story is touching, but the message is so heavy-handed that it may turn off the more cynical voters within the Academy.
Next up we have two shorts that go a bit more abstract with their form which yields some really stunning results. Canada’s The Flying Sailor from Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby takes the real-life 1917 event of a sailor being thrown two kilometers during an explosion and living to tell the tale and turns it into a true reflection of life. The imagery is beautiful, but the short feels a bit too slight to rank as the top of this particular group. The Ice Merchants from Portuguese director João Gonzalez is even less tethered to reality in this father-son tale of extreme capitalism being upended by global warming. At twice the runtime of the previous short, The Ice Merchants has a little bit more runway to get you emotionally invested in this wordless narrative. It may be the most technically impressive of the bunch.
Finally, we have two more comedically-driven efforts to break up the relative seriousness of the rest of the bunch. They also happen to have the best titles out of any of the short film categories. My Year Of Dicks is a tremendously entertaining episodic short in which a young girl recounts her efforts to lose her virginity in the early ‘90s in a town where no one seems worth the effort. This one is hilarious with many instantly quotable lines (at least around my house) while also having an emotional underpinning that gives it some weight. An Ostrich Told Me The World Is Fake And I Think I Believe It is a very meta animated short which feels like Wallace and Gromit meets The Matrix. It is very clever, but the lack of a stronger overall message may keep it from walking away with the statue.
Oscar Prediction: Anyone with common sense would likely tell you that The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse has this in the bag. It has the international recognition, a broad appeal and the backing of Apple. If you have money riding on this, stay safe and go with this option. Yet, we cannot shake the feeling that enough members might find that one too cloying and go for the more mature and memorable My Year Of Dicks.
Live Action
The batch of Live Action short films this year is one of the strongest that we have had in a few years. The category seems more wide open thanks to the lack of star power in front of the camera, although Alfonso Cuarón lends his clout as a producer for the Disney+ original short Le Pupille. The wide availability of the short along with the buoyant tone will probably help it quite a bit. This period piece about a group of girls at a strictly religious boarding school over Christmas break has its charms, but sing-songy interstitials were a bit grating for this particular viewer.
We head over to Denmark to find the tense short Ivalu about a missing indigenous girl and her younger sister’s journey to find her. The film is very dreamy and contemplative as we get to know the titular girl through recounted memories. The film is quite engaging, but it does not end as strongly as it begins. Similarly in Norway we have Night Ride, which finds a frustrated woman commandeering a tram after being slighted by the conductor. The tone of this one is lighthearted with some issue-based drama sprinkled in to make things feel more substantial. This one feels a bit ham-fisted in its messaging, but it does not veer into full-blown offensiveness.
After winning the BAFTA recently in this category, all eyes are on The Irish Goodbye to prevail again. It would make perfect sense, as this story is both humorous and touching in a way we expect to see adapted into a feature in the next few years. This one concerns two brothers coming together in the wake of the death of their mother to carry out the bucket list she never got to complete when she was alive. You will laugh and you will probably shed a tear – it is hard to deny what a high this one leaves you on.
If there is a stealth challenger to this perceived frontrunner, it would likely be The Red Suitcase. This gripping story of an Iranian girl who flies to Luxembourg and attempts to evade the husband who has been arranged to marry her hits all of the right notes. Not only is the short dealing with issues about freedom of choice and bodily autonomy, but it is simply intricately plotted and crafted in a way that has you perched on the edge of your seat and ready to scream at the screen. Hollywood wishes they could make something as effortlessly engaging.
Oscar Prediction: Ireland is having a big year with The Banshees of Inisherin in the Best Picture conversation. While that is not looking likely to win the big prize, we have a feeling they will still be able to celebrate when An Irish Goodbye takes home this award. If anything is going to upset it, keep an eye out for The Red Suitcase.
Documentary
This year’s group of Documentary Shorts is the least depressing that we have gotten in quite some time. We always love this category, but the relative respite from total emotional devastation is welcome. The highest profile title among this bunch unsurprisingly comes from Netflix with The Elephant Whisperers. Yes, most of the joy derived from this one will be from seeing elephants being stupidly cute. But the film also has some conservationist messaging which keeps this from being a glorified TikTok video.
Also from Netflix is The Martha Mitchell Effect which is made up entirely of archival footage. This portrait of the woman who first sounded off about Nixon and the Watergate scandal gives a swift, condensed version of her life and what led to her feud with the government. If you happened to have caught the Starz series Gaslit last year with Julia Roberts and Sean Penn, there is not much in here that will blow you away.
Using archival footage to much more interesting effect is How Do You Measure A Year? in which the director filmed his daughter answering a series of questions on her birthday every year until she was 18. While this may not be as technically ambitious as some shorts, there is a deep well of emotion in this one that makes you reflect on the passing of time and how personalities are shaped. Many parents in the Academy are likely to be hit hard by this one.
Stranger At The Gate is a highly divisive film about a US marine revealing what led to him planning to blow up a mosque and what happened in the aftermath. Much like When We Were Bullies last year, there is no doubt that this film is attempting to put forth a message of hope and understanding, but the execution can be a bit uncomfortable at times. Knowing the Academy, that likely means it’s our winner.
Finally we have the awe-inspiring documentary Haulout which finds a scientist coming face-to-face with a gathering of walruses who are being devastated by global warming. The sheer scale of this one is truly a sight to see, and the way in which this event is captured is some of the most skillful filmmaking of this group. With a strong aesthetic and a vital message, this one feels like it should be the winner in a just world.
Oscar Prediction: This category feels like the most difficult to predict of the three. Stranger At The Gate feels like the one that would make the most people upset, but the Academy tends to go with issue-based films even when they have major criticism against them. Haulout seems to be objectively the best in show, but that has never guaranteed success. We are settling on How Do You Measure A Year? for its obvious emotional impact for parents, especially. Plus, in some weird way, some people may feel they are making up for the fact that Boyhood didn’t win Best Picture since both were years-long projects.
Head to ShortsTV to discover an in-person cinema where you can view these films for yourself.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.