The Oscar-nominated shorts are often the broccoli of awards season. Good for you, undeniably good, but the sort of thing you save for last and don’t always enjoy. Every year brings exceptional works of beauty, sometimes even a few chuckles, but for whatever reason the short cinematic form tends to attract filmmakers with painful, heartbreaking, and soul-destroying subjects on their minds.
This year’s Oscar-nominated shorts aren’t the exception. If anything, they’re weightier than ever. One of the animated shorts this year collapsed me into an oozing puddle of tears, and THAT category sometimes qualifies as the Oscars’ dessert. This year’s animated shorts include an overwhelming stark vision of our future, a cute bear whose misery runs like clockwork, an outer space tragedy, the birth of human violence and – admittedly – one superhero team.
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This year’s live-action shorts include kidnapping, stillbirth, the Occupation of Kosovo, Israelis desperately freeing Arab territory in the Middle East and, admittedly, a nice romance about a guy who stutters.
This year’s documentary shorts are about the ebola epidemic, victims of Agent Orange, Pakistani “honor killings” as well as the death penalty. And do you know how this category gives a a lot of Oscars to documentaries about the Holocaust? This year there is a documentary about a documentary about the Holocaust. Ho-ly crap.
Find out more about this year’s Oscar-nominated shorts below, as we briefly review and catalogue the nominees for those who may never get to see them. For those who do wish to seek out these films: A) bring a handkerchief, B) you can preview many of them on ShortsTV, and C) they are now playing in limited release throughout the country, so check your local listings.
The 2016 Oscar-Nominated Shorts: Reviewed and Endured
Top Photo: Bitter Films
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
Oscars 2016: The Devastating Academy Award-Nominated Shorts
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Best Live-Action Short: Ave Maria
The tenets of faith become a quirky roadblock in Ave Maria, a short film about Israeli settlers whose car breaks down outside a convent full of nuns who have taken a vow of silence, just moments before the Sabbath. So literally nobody is allowed to use the phone, or do practically anything else for that matter. Light and likable despite the heavy context, Ave Maria isn't quite funny or thoughtful enough to truly stand out, but it's a fun film regardless.
Photo: Basil Khalil
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Best Live-Action Short: Day One
A woman's first day as a translator for the U.S. military, and first day on any job of any kind, goes completely insane when feuding neighbors and a pregnant woman start to bust apart right in front of her. Henry Hughes contributes tense direction but also a screenplay that starts well and then careens so far over the top it becomes hard to take all of the events seriously.
Photo: Henry Hughes
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Best Live-Action Short: Everything Will Be Okay
A divorced dad picks up his young daughter for the weekend, and then we watch in suspense as she gradually realizes that she is being kidnapped. Naturalistic acting and impressively confident direction make Everything Will Be Okay an impressive piece of filmmaking.
Photo: Patrick Vollrath
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Best Live-Action Short: Shok
Two young boys bond over a bicycle, but come into conflict when one of them starts selling items to the oppressive military in Kosovo. Jamie Donoughue's film is finely crafted, and the ending will wrench you, but it doesn't quite sell its potent coming-of-age drama as effectively as it could.
Photo: Jamie Donoughue
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Best Live-Action Short: Stutterer
A young man with a severe stuttering problem spends his whole life avoiding conversation, so when a pen pal announces she's in town for a few days, he's forced to decide whether he'd rather sacrifice the relationship or risk losing face forever. Matthew Needham gives a fantastic performance as the title character, and Benjamin Cleary's smart, inventive direction puts us right inside his head the whole time. Stutterer is a genuine joy.
Photo: Benjamin Cleary
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Best Animated Short: Bear Story
A bear who makes clockwork machinery reveals his latest work of art, and it's a heart-destroying tale of loss. Everything about this short is haunting; even the music from Bear Story seems custom-made to make you cry.
Photo: Gabriel Osario Vargas
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Best Animated Short: Prologue
Stunningly animated but narratively thin, Richard Williams' gorgeous Prologue tells the simple story of a skirmish between Spartan and Athenian warriors. Fans of animation will have their breath snatched away, audiences looking for more complex stories may be a little disappointed.
Photo: Richard Williams
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Best Animated Short: Sanjay's Super Team
Sanjay Patel's semi-autobiographical film, about a boy whose father forces him to turn off superhero cartoons and pray (causing the two mythologies to merge), played in front of The Good Dinosaur last year. It's a gorgeously colorful piece, and very sweet, but it may be more effective as a love letter to Patel's father than as a standalone piece.
Photo: Walt Disney
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Best Animated Short: We Can't Live Without Cosmos
Two Russian cosmonauts are inseparable during training, then become separated once the time comes to finally implement their mission. Konstantin Bronzit's film is lovely and sad, but its enigmatic conclusion comes across as a little more forced than it had to be.
Photo: Konstantin Bronzit
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Best Animated Short: World of Tomorrow
In Don Hertzfeldt's ambitious vision of the future, a fifth generation clone reaches back in time to communicate with a five-year-old, who is completely incapable of understanding the inherent tragedy of all the scientific advancement that lies ahead of her. Imaginative animation, rich storytelling, inventive science-fiction. World of Tomorrow has it all.
Photo: Bitter Films
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Best Documentary Short: Body Team 12
A team of doctors has been tasked with disposing of the dead bodies of ebola victims in Liberia, even when the families of the deceased don't want them there. In a relatively short amount of time, director David Barg captures the horror and heroism of their day jobs, and paints a vivid picture of the plight of many.
Photo: RYOT Films
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Best Documentary Short: Chau, beyond the lines
A young man dreams of becoming an artist, but his future is uncertain due to the physical deformities caused by Agent Orange. He is impressively honest about his hopes, his dreams, and his bouts with despair. Courtney Marsh's lovely documentary reaches a peak many films strive for, but few successfully find: it inspires.
Photo: 7th Art Releasing
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Best Documentary Short: Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
Claude Lanzmann's legendary 10-hour documentary Shoah is one of the most significant catalogues about the Holocaust. It wasn't nominated for an Oscar, but this film about the making of Shoah has been, and that's either some sort of an apology or some sort of slap in the face. Either way, Adam Benzine's film is a fascinating look at the difficulties Lanzmann faced throughout the production, and the techniques he used to get people to willingly relive one of the greatest horrors in human history.
Photo: HBO / Cinephil
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Best Documentary Short: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
A young woman disobeys her parents, and marries the man she loves. In Pakistan, her father is all but legally allowed to murder her, and he almost succeeds. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's fascinating documentary takes us into the minds of the victim and the assailants (who believe they themselves are the true victims), and the male-dominated, corrupt system that values the honor of men far, far more than the lives of women. A Girl in the River is a riveting human drama, cop drama, legal drama, and political nightmare.
Photo: HBO
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Best Documentary Short: Last Day of Freedom
Bill Babbitt recounts the unthinkable story of his brother, who returned from Vietnam with severe PTSD and who wound up on death row for murder. Illustrated for dramatic effect, Last Day of Freedom is in some respects a performance piece; it may be real, but it's Babbitt's confessional, heartfelt speech that worms its way inside of you and makes you feel his pain. It is as potent an anti-death penalty documentary as you are likely to see.
Photo: Living Condition LLC
