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dweemeister · 6 days ago

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Best Animated Short Film Nominees for the 97th Academy Awards (2025, listed in order of appearance in the shorts package)

This blog, since 2013, has been the site of my write-ups to the Oscar-nominated short film packages – a personal tradition for myself and for this blog. This omnibus write-up is done in memory of two now-shuttered theaters that were very important to this tradition – the Nickelodeon Theatre of Santa Cruz, California (2012 and 2013) and the Regency South Coast Village of Santa Ana, California (2014-2020, 2022-2024).

If you are an American or Canadian resident interested in supporting the short film filmmakers in theaters (and you should, as very few of those who work in short films are as affluent as your big-name directors and actors), check your local participating theaters here.

Now, here are the nominees for the Best Animated Short Film at this year’s Oscars. In decades' past, this was a category that was the province of Walt Disney Animation, Warner Bros., and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Familiar names such as Tom and Jerry, Mickey Mouse, and various Looney Tunes characters populated the nominations and wins. With the shuttering of MGM and Warner Bros.' original animation studios and more recently the withdrawal of Disney and Pixar animated shorts from cinemas, this is among the most democratic of all Oscar categories.

The write-up for Live Action Short is coming soon (you can read my omnibus write-ups to Documentary Short here). Non-American films predominantly in a language other than English are listed with their nation(s) of origin.

Magic Candies (2024, Japan)

Based on Korean author Baek Hee-na’s picture book of the same name (and its prequel book, I Am a Dog), Magic Candies is the only entry among these five that hails from a major animation studio. Directed by Daisuke Nishio for Toei Animation, Magic Candies represents a radical aesthetic (CGI that appears to be stop-motion) and thematic departure from a studio best known for Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, Digimon, and One Piece. Curiously, it is a rare Japanese nominee in this category*. Dong-Dong is a lonely boy who plays marbles by himself, and often wishes he had someone to play with. After mistakenly purchasing colorful round candies thinking they were marbles, he begins to experience strange developments when sampling the candies. With the candy in his mouth, he is able to communicate with someone or something whose colors correspond with the candy – resulting in some of the most inventive and sublime visuals of this set. Magic Candies’ diversity of motion – from Dong-Dong’s face steaming like a locomotive, an anthropomorphic sofa, an elderly dog’s gait, and a flurry of autumn leaves – would be impressive regardless of whether this would be traditional cel animation, stop-motion, or CGI.

Though the film’s third candy should appear later in this work because of its emotional undercurrents, Magic Candies – which arms itself with the narrative logic of a fable – has a gentleness to it that never feels the need to proclaim its moral. If this was an American short film, it would likely engage in some high-octane hijinks in order to arrive to its conclusion. Instead, in Nishio’s Magic Candies, Dong-Dong learns how to be proactive, to not always assume people and things will always be the way they are. From there, the world – in all of its wonderful complexity – will open up to him. In a culture where individualism is subordinate to the collective, this is a remarkable film about how an individual learns how to communicate – not only to connect with others, but to enrich one’s own life.

My rating: 8/10

In the Shadow of the Cypress (2023, Iran)

In more than nine decades since this category was born, there have only been two nominees from Iran. Both have come in the last two years, with Our Uniform (2023) and Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi’s In the Shadow of the Cypress. Employing minimalistic hand-drawn design, the film opens somewhere in coastal Iran. A captain and his grown daughter live in a small shack. Sometimes, after an episode of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), he will retreat to his ramshackle wooden ship barely floating off the coast. There are some implications that the father been violent towards himself and his daughter for a while. But just before she decides to leave, a whale beaches close to home. Together, they attempt to help the whale back into the ocean, but the captain’s violent flashback to a moment during the Iran-Iraq War results in a panic attack (impactfully edited alongside its nightmarish visuals), and he retreats to his offshore ship to convalesce. The daughter, without any help from her father, attempts to save the whale – an obvious metaphor for the father's troubles, but an effective one nonetheless.

This film, which debuted at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival and qualified for the Academy Awards by winning Best Animated Short at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, began production in 2017 and perhaps encountered the most obstacles on its path to completion. The pandemic, Iran’s lack of reliable internet, international sanctions, and the theocratic government’s inability to support artists (all twelve animators on this project worked part-time) resulted in an environment that could have easily proven insurmountable to Sohani, Molayemi, and their team. All credit to them that it did not.

In interviews, Sohani and Molayemi note that that the visuals of the ocean, the beach, and the boat came before they finalized the story. Both co-directors’ fathers were veterans of the Iran-Iraq War, and the two wanted to honor them and the many voiceless Iranian veterans and their families – for whom they say Iran’s dictatorship has utterly failed, despite using militaristic iconography to legitimize their history and authority. In comparison to the other Iranian film at this year’s Academy Awards, In the Shadow of the Cypress avoids The Seed of the Sacred Fig’s (2024, Iran/Germany) morally absolutist ending. It does so by electing to show understanding and forgiveness for those who are in control of neither their past or present.

My rating: 8.5/10

Yuck! (2024, France)

As Yuck! (the first of three films in this category distributed by independent French studio Miyu Distribution) opens, we see numerous families enjoying their beachside summer holiday in southern France. Among the adults and teenagers, romance is in the air. Interrupting their public displays of affection are a coterie of children exclaiming “Beurk!” (“Yuck!” in French) at the sight of couples kissing – the French might be known for their game, but it appears that even French children believe in cooties. The film ultimately concentrates on two of those children: a boy named Léo and a girl named Lucie. Director-writer Loïc Espuche’s Yuck! never says how Léo, Lucie, and the others know each other – whether they are close friends or otherwise. But as the vacation draws on, Léo and Lucie start expressing interest in the other. The film’s simplified 2D backgrounds and details accentuates a character’s pink-glowing lips when they express such interest. Whether this is puppy love, a curiosity to try, or something deeper is not something that Espuche is interested in either.

Espuche (supervising animator on 2019’s Marona’s Fantastic Tale, a regrettably underseen film) came up with the idea of Yuck! (Beurk! as the original French title) when he screened his previous short film to a theater of children. In that film, during a scene when a departing soldier kisses his fiancée, the entire theater went beurk at the sight. Yuck!, like Magic Candies, is an emotional time capsule of a film that opens up memories on how viewers may have felt towards romance as children. But unlike Magic Candies, Yuck! has less to say about this aspect of growing up – of one’s first brush with romantic desire and mutual affection, and how exciting it feels before one learns about heartbreak. And as such, it makes the worst use of its thirteen minutes as the shortest short film among its nominees.

Surely, Yuck! would receive an extra point or two from me if the Messi and Ronaldo fans did the deed. We would have had world peace – guaranteed.

My rating: 7/10

Wander to Wonder (2023)

A Belgian, British, Dutch, and French, co-production from Miyu Distribution, director-writer Nina Gantz’s Wander to Wonder takes place in the shed/makeshift television studio of a fictional 1980s children’s puppet television show of the same name. The three puppets – Mary (Amanda Lawrence), Billybud (Terence Dunn, also the composer and Gantz’s husband), and Fumbleton (Toby Jones) – delight with the show’s human host, Uncle Gilly (Neil Salvage). In the film’s first third, the narrative is told through tapes of past shows. Abruptly, Gantz reveals that the beneath the puppet exteriors are sentient miniature humanoids and the footage in the film’s opening act is of Mary rewatching old VHS recordings of the show. Uncle Gilly has passed on suddenly, and it is unclear how long the three have been without the man who kept them all together.

Qualifying for the Academy Awards by winning Best International Short Film at Anima (a Brussels-based animation-only festival), Wander to Wonder mixes influences from the U.S. and Britain: Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, The Flumps, and The Wombles. There is some painstaking stop-motion work occurring here. Given how small Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton are, moving their eyelids or even their fingers requires incredible precision. Typically, stop-motion characters are larger than most viewers believe, but Gantz wanted to keep the Wander to Wonder trio life-sized (in this case, only a few inches tall). Their fluid movements seen across Wander to Wonder are striking to behold – and each of the three characters moves in their own way across a detailed, beautifully-lit set.

Principally, Wander to Wonder is a story of grief and how Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton respond in their own ways to Uncle Gilly’s death. Juxtaposed with the absurdity of Billybud and especially Fumbleton’s behavior, Wander to Wonder has a tragicomic tone that I admit is not to my tastes (Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared fans might say otherwise). But the underlying intent and its bittersweet, yet optimistic, ending is enough to overcome much of my trepidation towards it.

My rating: 8/10

Beautiful Men (2023, Belgium/France/Netherlands)

Another Belgian-Dutch-French co-production, another nomination for Miyu Distribution! Director-writer Nicolas Keppens’ Beautiful Men won the Alexeïeff – Parker Award at the 2024 Annecy Film Festival (the most prestigious animation-only film festival of all, located in the French Alpine resort town of the same name; this award is the equivalent of a Best Director) and qualified for the Oscars by winning Best Narrative Short at the Ottawa International Animation Festival shortly after. Here, we meet three bald or balding Flemish brothers – Steven, Bart, and Koen – as they travel to Turkey for hair transplants. Keppens gives the brothers roughly equal screentime, but the messy editing and narrative structure prevents the audience from learning more about each of the brothers beyond a single defining behavioral trait (Steven the aloof depressive, Bart the confrontational one who doesn’t necessarily believe in wearing pants, Koen the diplomatic glue holding their brotherly love together). Certain jokes fall flat because we have not spent enough time with our protagonists – the one in a bathroom stall in particular.

Compared to the two most recent animated shorts in this category that addressed aging – Late Afternoon (2017) and Mémorable (2019, France) – Beautiful Men adopts to perspective at mid-age. This is a worthy, undercovered area to explore in cinema, but Beautiful Men approaches the topic aimlessly. Nevertheless, Beautiful Men does approach its material with a unique sensitivity, potentially helped by the fact that Keppens, in a previous life, worked at an Istanbul hotel that had a close relationship with a hair clinic. It captures middle-aged men at a vulnerable juncture in life, but they are unable to articulate how that vulnerability pains them. That inability to express their pain renders all three brothers – unusual for a short film, animated or otherwise – as passive characters. Though the brothers (whose stylized round heads emphasize their follicle challenges) have traveled to Istanbul, they do not drive the plot as much as circumstance and dumb luck do – that is not screenwriting expediency, but a keen observation from Keppens. Similarly, there is minimal character growth here. That is by design, emblematic of this moment in their lives.

My rating: 7.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog. Half-points are always rounded down.

* Though Japan has a reputation as an animation hub, it has had very little representation in Best Animated Short Film. Previous Japanese nominees have included: Mt. Head (2002), La Maison En Petits Cubes (2008; the sole winner), and Possessions (2013) – none of which are in the style of traditional anime. I suspect that the television-heavy market for original video animation (OVA) has rendered some potential contenders as ineligible (movies that debut on television are ineligible for Academy Awards).

From previous years:

85th Academy Awards (2013) 87th (2015) 88th (2016) 89th (2017) 90th (2018) 91st (2019) 92nd (2020) 93rd (2021) 94th (2022) 95th (2023) 96th (2024)

There were no honorable mentions provided alongside the nominees this year, as has occurred in most years.

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

#Magic Candies #In the Shadow of the Cypress #Yuck!#Beurk!#Wander to Wonder #Beautiful Men #Daisuke Nishio #Hossein Molayemi #Shirin Sohani #Loïc Espuche #Nina Gantz #Nicolas Keppens #97th Academy Awards #Oscars #31 Days of Oscar #My Movie Odyssey

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socialistwh0r3 · 1 month ago

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*send an ask to submit a snub

Snub winner for each category will go head-to-head with official nominations winner

#Wander to Wonder #yuck #yuck!#Magic Candies #In the Shadow of the Cypress #Beautiful Men #Animated Short #oscars #oscars 2025

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mollyhale · 1 day ago

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IN THE SHADOW OF THE CYPRESS IRANIAN WINNNNNNNNN

#OKAYYYYYYYY #WE TAKE THOSE #i haven’t seen it but now i must i didn’t know it was made by iranians 🥰#molly.txt #oscars #in the shadow of the cypress

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theredandwhitequeen · 1 day ago

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Animated short film

In the shadow of the cypress

I’m interested in watching

It’s from Iran

#animated short film #oscars 2025 #in the shadow of the cypress

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heywoodsays · 1 day ago

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Animated Short: I wonder...

The nominees are:

Beautiful Men

In the Shadow of the Cypress

Magic Candies

Wander to Wonder

Yuck!

I’m going to be at odds with most people on this one. Wander to Wonder is undoubtedly the most unique film in this category and will likely take home the award. It won at BAFTA and at the Annie Awards. But I just didn’t like it. I appreciated the animation and the technique, but I didn’t find the narrative appealing and engaging. Just odd. Which is its own thing, I guess.

Beautiful Men is another stop-motion entry, this one about three brothers seeking a hair transplant, but there’s only one appointment available. To be honest, I didn’t think this was a story that benefited from the animation, and it’s probably second-to-last on my list, though it also has a good shot at winning.

Yuck! from France may be a spoiler. It’s a charming film about kids at a trailer park who think kissing is gross, but soon realize that it can be a beautiful thing and that everyone ultimately wants to have that sort of connection with another person. It’s easily the most palatable of the nominees, even if the least groundbreaking.

The most artistic film in this category may be the Iranian In the Shadow of the Cypress. The 2D animation is still unique in its form. The story of a father’s strained relationship with his daughter is told without dialogue. Unfortunately, I think it’s too steeped in symbolism for it to resonate with most Academy voters. Though it would be my #2 in this category.

My favorite, though, was Magic Candies, a charming Japanese film about a boy who discovers that the six marble-like candies he’s purchased have magical powers. They help him gain confidence and find the friendship he’s secretly been craving.

Who will win: Wander to Wonder

But look out for: Yuck!

Who I’d vote for: Magic Candies

◄ Previous: Live Action Short | Next: Documentary Short ►

#movies #Oscar picks #Oscars 2025 #Animated Short #Beautiful Men #In the Shadow of the Cypress #Magic Candies #Wander to Wonder #Yuck!

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moviemosaics · 1 month ago

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All Short Films Nominated for an Oscar at the 97th Academy Awards

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randomrichards · 3 days ago

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2025 ACADEMY AWARDS: BEST ANIMATED SHORT

BEST ANIMATED SHORT:

BEAUTIFUL MEN

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In 2021, brother Steven (Tom Diwispelaere) Koen (Peter De Graef) and Bart (Peter Van den Begin) travel to Istanbul to get hair transplants. Unfortunately, a mishap results in only one appointment being booked. Now the neurotic Steven, nerdy Koen and distant Bart have confront their issues with each other as they choose which one will take the appointment.

Kaufman-esque is the perfect word to describe Beautiful Men. The stop motion animation bears resemblance to Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa both style and tone. This short film also shares Kaufman’s trademark melancholy humour and exploration of human psychology. In this case, writer/director Nicolas Keppens explores male insecurity.

To be honest, the short doesn’t say much about the subject. Bart is the only one who gets a clear arc. He spends most of the short trying to call his wife Lindsay (Laure Van Medegael). His issues come to a head when he overhears Steven say what he really thinks of him. It doesn’t help that the short ends with a deux ex machina that solves their problems.

There are some very funny scenes in this short. One sees Steven checking Bart’s balls for a lump in a public restroom. Another sees Bart accidentally going through an emergency exit naked. As with Kaufman, the humour of this short is an acquired taste.

Beautiful Men is the weakest of the animated shorts. While it does deliver some laughs and has great stop motion animation, the story needed to be reworked to establish arcs for the other brothers.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE CYPRESS

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From Iran comes In the Shadow of the Cypress, a devastating tale of a troubled father, his daughter and a beached whale.

A shipwreck leaves a father and daughter stranded on a beach, forced to take shelter in an abandoned house. The Father’s PTSD causes him to have violent outbursts, which terrifies the daughter. When the daughter finds a beached whale, the father is forced to confront the traumatic moment that damaged him as they try to save the whale.

Of all the animated shorts nominated this year, In the Shadow of the Cypress was the hardest to watch. Writers/directors Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani make it very challenging to empathize with the father as we witness his violent outbursts. The film begins with him smashing his own head into a mirror. You can’t help but side with the daughter when she packs her bags. His inability to get the whale back in the ocean only aggravates his symptoms further, leading to an unsettling scene where his attempt to hammer a nail becomes more violent. It’s very uncomfortable.

In between these outbursts shows the guilt-ridden man paralyzed by his trauma. Being stranded on an island leaves him with no means of coping with his trauma in a healthy manner, creating a Jekyll/Hyde situation. Molayemi and Sohani gives the audience visual clues across the short before revealing the traumatic event through devastating flashbacks and flashes resembling woodcut drawings.

The short is hard to watch but it’s also the most beautifully animated among the short films. Molayemi and Sohani presents a simple animation style that makes an eye catching sun lit beach side. They also visual symbols for emotional moods. The father’s skin turns blue when his PTSD takes over. When his daughter leaves, the father turns into petals that hugs daughter. His daughter melts like ice cream when she gives her father the cold shoulder. It works thanks to the short’s simple animation style and the directors intricate visual storytelling.

Molayemi and Sohani holds nothing back in their portrayal of PTSD and its effects on loved ones.

MAGIC CANDIES

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Toei Animation, the studio behind One Piece, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball adapts stories by Heena Baek to create a coming of age story about boy who gains the ability to hear new voices thanks to a bag of colourful candies.

Dong-Dong (Haruto Shima) doesn’t have an easy life. None of the boys play with him. His dog Gusuri doesn’t want to walk with him. His Father (Ikkei Watanabe) is very critical and demanding. The only joy in his life is his solo games of marbles. When he heads to the store to buy new marbles, he instead buys a bag of colourful marble-shaped candies. He tries the plaid-coloured candy, and suddenly the couch starts talking. It turns out the candies give him the ability to hear voices from whatever shares the candy’s colour. The result is 20 unforgettable minutes of side splitting and emotional shenanigans.

Screenwriter Ichiro Takano makes the most of the 6 candies provided, each one with their own creative abilities. It leads to some funny moments including one where the couch (Hiroshi Iwasaki) asking Dong-Dong to tell his father to stop farting on him. For the most part, these candies result in heartfelt moments that teach Dong-Dong a lesson in perspective and communication. The most powerful is when Dong-Dong tires one that lets him hear his emotionally distant father say I Love You. You may cry watching Dong-Dong hug his father.[1]

Toei Animation have long proved exceptional at bringing a manga’s animation style to life for decades. Director Daisuke Nishio himself has been directing since the original Dragon Ball, .But Baek’s carving models that make up her illustrations forces them to go a different direction than their usual hand drawn animation. Nishio brings Baek’s style to life using a CGI animation style designed to look like stop motion animation. They create many beautiful background, especially a park in autumn when Dong-Dong watches the leaves fall. They also get some cartoony images like having Dong-Dong shoot steam out his ears and nose when he tries the first candy. There are also moments when Dong Dong sees letters fly in the sky. It’s especially moving when Dong Dong see the words “I love you” float from the father’s back while he’s doing dishes.

Magic Candies is a delightful fantasy that delivers eye catching animation and a valuable lesson for children and adults.

WANDER TO WONDER

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Those who love pitch black British comedy will get a real kick out of Wander to Wonder.

the titular 80s British children’s show centred on the kind-hearted Uncle Gilly (Neil Savage) and 3 miniature Wookie like creatures[2] named Mary (Amanda Lawrence), Fumbleton (Toby Jones) and Billybud (Terence Dunn). Cut to the present day where Uncle Gilly’s corpse lies in a decaying studio. It turns out the creatures are actually tiny people wearing costumes, and they are have been stranded in the studio for a while. As they struggle to survive, each cope in their own way. The pompous Shakespearean Fumbleton deludes himself into playing a warrior. Manchild Billybud practices juggling anything he can get his hands on. Mary tries to maintain the illusion of a domestic life while rewatching taped episodes of the show.

Wander to Wonder bears some resemblance to Raymond Brigg’s anti-war black comedy When the Wind Blows. Both have droll British comedy stemming from the main characters trying to maintain a routine life in the face of catastrophe. Mary in particular tries her best to maintain the façade of a normal life by having the three of them eat at the dinner table (even if their meals are either pickles or dead flies). Both present unflinching portrayals of decay. The trio are surrounded by rusted equipment, a dead body and flies galore. At one point, they have to break a glass of pickles to get anything to eat.

There are differences between them, Wander To Wonder uses stop motion animation style in contrast to When the Wind Blows combines live action and hand drawn animation. The former’s animation style is a blend of the Road and the Borrowers. The animators find creative ways for the trio to use regular objects, including stacking video tapes so they can look through the door window. In contrast the unapologetically bleak When the Wind Blows, Wander to Wonder ends on a hopeful note. An ambiguous note but one that offers hope for the trio

Director Nina Gantz offers a few hilarious moments. Fumbleton appears on a recording with no pants, letting out his little shortcomings. The trio records an episode warning kids not to eat flies after they tried them for dinner. Billybud’s attempts to juggle matches results in the set being lit.

Wander for Wonder is an acquired taste for those who love dark British humour and are willing to sit through bleak moments of decay.

YUCK!

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Writer/director Loic Espuche takes us back to a time in childhood when we were grossed out by kisses in the nostalgia comedy Yuck!

Espuche takes us into a world where people’s lips glow pink and glittery when they fall for someone. Such a sight grosses out the little kids at a campground. It doesn’t stop them from eavesdropping on couples kissing. Among them is Leo (Noe Chabbat) who is vacationing with his family. Suddenly his own lips start glowing, especially at sight of little red haired girl Lucie (Katel Varat).

Leo delivers an accurate depiction of a child experiencing infatuation for the first time. He finds romance gross because that’s what the other kids think. So, when his lips starts glowing, he is confused by his emotions. Like most kids, he neither recognizes nor understands his emotions. In fear of being picked on by the other kids, he tries to hide the glow from them. It leads to him lashing out in private by kicking flowers. Then one night, he comes to understand that these feelings are normal when he sees the tents glow pink.

Yuck! Is the most adorable of the animated shorts nominated this year. It’s amusing to see kids being grossed out by the sight of kissing, saying it should be a crime for old people to be kissing. It works thanks to the performances of the child actors who make their characters feel like real children. The simple animation style adds to the adorability with a simple style.

Espuche draws from common childhood memories of summer vacations. Some moviegoers may recognize eavesdropping on adults, racing to the water slide and driving your parents crazy by teasing your siblings instead of sleeping. Composer Alienor Doublet add to the nostalgia with a synthetic score that feels like a trip down memory lane.

Yuck! Is a lighthearted nostalgia trip centred on discovering affection for the first time.

Who Will Win?

The clear winner is Magic Candies.

With no Disney/Pixar short nominated, the winner is often adaptations of children’s books. Examples include The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, Hair Love and The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Magic Candies also has the advantage made by a well established studio like Toei Animation. This studio has been making anime movies and shows since the 50s and it has made some of the iconic franchises in Japanese entertainment.

There’s also the added challenge of Toei Animation stepping outside of its comfort zone, which they pull off beautifully. Toei Animation proved themselves just as effective with CGI as they are with hand drawn animation.

Like the best children stories, Magic Candies delivers an entertaining story that balances creative ideas, with memorable characters and valuable life lessons.

[1] It would have been great if his father learned not to be so demanding of his son and open up more.

[2] Those costumes look so creepy with their styles.

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greensparty · 4 days ago

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Green's Party's Guide to the 2025 Oscar Nominated Short Films

I am absolutely thrilled to be doing my 8th annual guide to the Oscar Nominated Short Films (read my 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 guides). Anyone who knows me knows I am a longtime champion of the Short Film categories for Animation, Live Action and Documentary at the Academy Awards, mainly because I have made short films and I know how hard it can be to tell a story in a short amount of time.

2025 movie poster

This year’s nominated short films are available from ShortsTV both in theaters and online. I’ve watched all of them and here are my thoughts and predictions:

Best Animated Short Film:

This category is always cool because of the varying styles of animation. Magic Candies (Japan) is about a lonely boy Dong-Dong, who decides to buy a bag of candies instead of marbles and begins seeing some strange things. At times, the animation seemed almost like puppetry or woodmation for this imaginative tale. In the Shadow of the Cypress (Iran) is about a former captain now living in a secluded house with his daughter and suffering from PTSD. It's a silent movie in that there is no dialogue. Yuck! (France) is about kids at a Summer camp who are grossed out by older people kissing, until the main boy wants to give it a try with a girl camper. Wander to Wonder (UK) is about some miniature characters in a 1980s children's TV show, who are left alone in the studio after the show's originator dies. It boasts notable actor Toby Jones as one of the voices. This is very creative animation, but I'm sure animated purists will take issue with some of the live action pieces being combined into the film. In Beautiful Men (Belgium / France / Netherlands) three brothers stay at a hotel in Istanbul for hair transplants. This is the one animated short nominee that could have easily been a raunchy adult dramedy if it was live action, but within animation it was able to encompass more mature themes like older men with insecurities.

Will Win: Wander to Wonder seems to be getting some momentum and it's got some notable cast members. I think the live action element, might dissuade some animators, but it's charming enough to just win!

Should Win: Beautiful Men was the most original and entertaining of this year's animation nominees.

Best Live Action Short Film:

What a category this year! First up is Netflix's Anuja (U.S. in Hindi), which boasts star power in its producer Mindy Kaling. This shows a 9-year-old girl working in a garment factory and she is given an opportunity to go to school and has to make a decision. It had very stylish cinematography and tugged at the heartstrings. The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (Croatia) takes place on a train that is suddenly stopped by military forces in an ethnic cleansing operation in 1993. There is an undercurrent of tension and fear throughout, even as we the audience are not seeing the horrors beyond the train, it's felt in a harrowing way. The New Yorker's I'm Not a Robot (Belgium / Netherlands) begins with a woman at her workplace doing one of those logins to prove you're not a robot. When she has trouble logging in, she takes a survey that assesses she might be a bot and that causes her world to unravel. I liked the idea and the build-up, even if the ending was a letdown. A Lien is about a family dealing with a dangerous immigration process. In less than 15 minutes, this drama packs in more than a lot of features even try for. The Last Ranger (South Africa) is about young Litha, who is introduced to a game reserve by the last remaining ranger, and they are ambushed by poachers as they try to save the rhinos. This film truly makes the argument for seeing the Oscar Nominated Shorts in a movie theater. The scenic locale is breath-taking on a small screen, but probably looked way better on a big screen.

Will Win: Any of these could easily win for different reasons, but A Lien is very of-the-moment with Trump's immigration policy being a hot-button issue.

Should Win: The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent gets a ton of credit for having a lot to say without actually showing the horrors it alludes to it. But I think A Lien is the best of any of this Live Action Shorts batch!

Best Documentary Short Film:

This year's Documentary Short Film nominees cover a lot of varied ground: New York Times' Instruments of a Beating Heart (Japan) is about a first grade class in a Tokyo elementary school that are going to perform "Ode to Joy" for the incoming first students and the subject is a girl who was selected to play the drums in the song. You are rooting for her as she gets so scared and upset during rehearsals, but it shows the power of music, which was a similar theme in last year's winner The Last Repair Shop. The New Yorker's Incident is a reconstruction of a 2018 police shooting in Chicago. It is a unique documentary in that it is made up entirely of actual surveillance and bodycam footage. It is disturbing to watch and there's also long stretches with no sound, forcing the viewer to watch what's happening that much more. MTV Documentary Films' I am Ready, Warden is directed by Smriti Mundhra, who was nominated in this category for 2019's St. Louis Superman (which I praised in my 2020 Shorts Guide). This very intense doc looks at a convicted murderer on death row. Prior to his execution he tries to reach out to his son and the victim's son. It looks at the situation from all sides. Very sobering to say the least. Netflix's The Only Girl in the Orchestra is about double bassist Orin O'Brien, who recently retired from the New York Philharmonic. The doc is directed by her niece Molly and it's a conversational look at Orin's life growing up with Old Hollywood actor parents, her love of music and her career, including re-connecting with former students. The Kennedy / Marshall Company (yes, THE Frank Marshall is a producer of this) present Death by Numbers about Samantha Fuentes, one of the survivors of the Parkland High School shooting. It shows her grappling with feelings of anger and sadness as she prepares to face the shooter in his trial. To say this is powerful would be an understatement. It documents this subject's life, memories and the trial, it used animation, poetry and art to enhance Fuentes' narration / interviews.

Will Win: There is a lot of heavy subjects in this year's category, which is why they might cancel each other out and The Only Girl in the Orchestra, which is more uplifting and celebratory, could steal the thunder.

Should Win: This one is difficult to choose, but I think Death By Numbers was the one that left me the most speechless and went beyond just a documentary short and felt like a moving life experience.

This year’s Oscar Nominated Short Films can be seen online from ShortsTV as well as select movie theaters including programs at Coolidge Corner Theatre and Alamo Drafthouse Boston.

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