Short of the Week
Today (January 12th) a new stage of Academy Awards voting begins. From the 15 film shortlists, five Animation, Documentary, and Live-Action short films will become official nominees, with their creators invited to attend the Oscar ceremony on March 12th
***VIEW ALL 45 FILM LISTINGS ON SHORTVERSE***
As has become custom here at Short of the Week, in December we covered the shortlists and have been tracking the 45 titles ever since, updating our article when new films have come online. Two-thirds of the animation picks are now available to view online, most for free, while the majority (all but two) of the documentary short films are online at various paid streaming platforms (Netflix, Paramount+, etc) or free on journalistic outlets (The New Yorker, NYT Ops-Docs). For live-action, only a handful are available – one on The Criterion Channel, one on Disney+, and a couple free to view on other channels. With the nominations announced in 12-days time, we recommend you get your watching in now—inevitably, some of these films are will be become unavailable again soon.
With one eye on that nominations announcement in the not-too-distant future, today we’re adopting the role of an Oscar voter and selecting the 15 short films we think should make the cut. Selecting five films per category are our Senior Programmers, Rob Munday, Céline Roustan, and Jason Sondhi. You can check out their picks below:
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The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
The Best Animated Short Film race has changed a lot over the last couple of years. Historically dominated by films from the big studios everyone is familiar with, independent productions have taken over! The 2023 shortlist confirms that trend, with most of the 15 films being known from their festival run rather than serving as the opener for a feature film (or having a celebrity join as an EP in the eleventh hour). The selection this year is quite diverse, both narratively and stylistically, giving a good reflection of the medium and the creativity it allows. However, gender parity isn’t there yet (37% of the 19 filmmakers involved are female), and work still needs to be done in terms of representation. Yet, for me, this category is the most interesting for a couple of reasons: first, more than half of the films on the shortlist were directed by S/W alums, and second, the involvement of Colman Domingo! Choosing only five films was no easy task, even for someone who programs 365 days out of the year, but the list below highlights the films that I remember most clearly the first time I saw them and how deeply they moved me.
– Céline Roustan
 | Steakhouse by Špela Čadež Annecy winner, recipient of special mentions at Locarno, Guadalajara, Clermont-Ferrand, and countless festival selections, Steakhouse is a film whose tension sneaks up on you. Engaging with its subtle and effective build up, the animation truly immerses you in the protagonist’s perspective up until the unforgettable climax! Coproduced by Miyu, it comes as no surprise that this film is in line with the level of quality expected of their catalog. |
 | Ice Merchants by João Gonzalez Award winner in Cannes (Critics’ Week), Chicago, Melbourne, Guadalajara, Curtas Vila do Conde to name a few, Ice Merchants took (and is still taking) the festival circuit by storm! Breathtaking and immersive, while also prompting self-reflection, this is the kind of film that will stay with you. Just like 99% of the shorts I watch, I started watching it on my laptop but a couple of minutes in I stopped myself and waited for an opportunity to see it in a theater. WELL worth the wait! |
 | The Flying Sailor by Amanda Forbis & Wendy Tilby Another festival darling, The Flying Sailor feels like a roller coaster, both visually and emotionally. Its eight-minute runtime is surprising, it truly feels much shorter and perfectly echoes the experience of having one’s life flash before one’s eyes. Based on a real story, the film places us in the sailor’s shoes and does not let go until its last frame. Chaotic and beautiful, the film is at the same time a meditation on life and a reset button. |
 | Sierra by Sander Joon Winner at SFFILM and the Palm Springs ShortFest, Sierra is the surreal mix of a family drama and a sports film. I love films where animation allows filmmakers to push the boundaries of their imagination and creativity and this is one of those films. With its colorful visual aesthetic, its sense of humor and emotional depth, one cannot be immune to how charming and pleasant this film is. Its contagious energy leaves you on a high before pushing you to start unpacking it all. |
 | My Year of Dicks by Sara Gunnarsdóttir & Pamela Ribon With this title I mean… Award winner at SXSW (where it premiered) and Annecy, it is actually its award at Raindance that qualified the film. Conceived as episodic, each chapter is funnier than the last. Clever, witty, sharp, self-aware and sarcastic this romcom is ridiculously entertaining. While it might hit too close to home for some, it definitely triggers nostalgia for our younger and more innocent selves. |
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The Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film
| New Yorker | 4 |
| MTV | 3 |
| Netflix | 2 |
| POV | 2 |
| NyTimes | 1 |
| NatGeo | 1 |
| HBO | 1 |
| Indie | 2 |
It’s not news that the documentary category is dominated by big media company acquisitions, their excutives hoping to purchase an Oscar for cheap. This isn’t a bad thing—it puts money into filmmaker pockets and means that nearly all the films are available in advance to audiences. However, it does shift the narrative surrounding the category into an industry-heavy, inside-baseball examination of the jostling for spots: MTV, coming out of nowhere in the past 3 years to become a perennial contender under the leadership of Sheila Nevins (and the concurrent decline of HBO). POV. with a strong year under the leadership of Opal Hope Bennett, standing up for public television in the face of paid-streaming platforms. However, on top of the scorecard sits Sarah Lash at Conde Nast, as she continues The New Yorker’s astonishing acquisition spree from last year to take the top spot. Unlike its competitors, The New Yorker has contenders in all three categories, with 9 films in total. Will this be the year they finally break through with a win?
– Jason Sondhi
 | Haulout by Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev Recently crowned Best Short by the International Documentary Association, Haulout isn’t what we associate with Oscar bait. While deeply moving (if you let it) the film is defiantly austere, with hardly any dialogue over its 24min runtime. Utilizing extreme embedding, the filmmakers float like ghosts in observing a lonely marine biologist who bears witness to a developing ecological crisis. The film’s deliberate approach rewards you with some splendid imagery, and the film as a whole is reminiscent of works from the acclaimed Harvard Sensory Ethnography Lab in its devotion to film as an immersive, aesthetic experience. |
 | Nuisance Bear by Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden A favorite of our team, Nuisance Bear, is, like Haulout, a dialogue-free snapshot of the natural world changed by human impact. The film does not spoon-feed its audience, but by centering its perspective on polar bears as they engage in their annual migration across a snowy Canadian town (and the absurd eco-tourism that springs up around them), the film imparts plenty of unspoken commentary. Part tragedy, the film is, nonetheless, farcically funny too, creating an unusual mix of emotions for the viewer. |
 | Shut Up and Paint by Titus Kaphar & Alex Mallis I wrote about Shut Up and Paint in December, and my appreciation of Titus Kaphar and Alex Mallis’ deeply introspective work has only enriched with time. While a necessarily incomplete narrative, the way Kaphar interrogates his own art and the manner in which the film itself litigates similar themes of race, power, and representation make it the most intellectually ambitious film on the shortlist. |
 | As Far as They Can Run by Tanaz Eshaghian A look at intellectually disabled children in rural Pakistan and how sports can radically change the quality of their lives, this film is easily the most emotionally gripping of the films in contention. Despite existing in conditions that will shock Western audiences, Eshaghian does not milk the abjectness of her subjects for syrupy sympathy, nor does she construct a simple sports narrative that culminates in false uplift. A careful and observed work, the film’s resistance to these tropes ennobles the children and helps deliver what they have been denied—their full humanity and subjectivity. |
 | The Flagmakers by Sharon Liese & Cynthia Wade Simply God-level documentary work from Wade and Liese, the sophistication of the character and thematic work at play in this 30min film is like a novel. While blessed with an immediately compelling premise, the individuals the filmmakers choose to highlight and the way they each represent strands of an America in tension with itself is so perfect that you want to accuse the film of being scripted. |
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The Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film
The immediate story surrounding the release of the live-action shortlist was the omission of Taylor Swift’s extended music video, All Too Well, and Kendrick Lamar’s We Cry Together. Both uber-famous artists had qualified for Oscar and had, to varying degrees, publicly campaigned for a spot. While Swift’s inclusion would have at least meant another female in what is undeniably a male-dominated line-up, and Lamar would have meant at least one Black filmmaker in the live-action shortlist, we couldn’t help but be pleased to see the halt to a worrying trend celeb-domination of the short film categories—especiallly when the work is simply not up to snuff.
With those titles out of the way, the 15-film list continued its recent trend of feeling very international, with shorts from Lebanon, Brazil, Luxembourg, and Norway making the list. Spanish films were in the majority, however, with four picks from the country. Oddly, the USA didn’t even have one film make the cut. As is often the case with these live-action picks, they do run long, with an average run-time of approximately 20-minutes and three films over the 30-minute mark. Although there was one film under 10-minutes this year, which feels quite rare for this shortlist. You do notice certain themes in the type of films that make it to this list and this often results in these shorts not really being the type of innovative filmmaking I personally like to champion on S/W, but here are the five titles that really stood out to me in the 15 film shortlist – Rob Munday
 | Sideral by Carlos Segundo A festival favourite and one of the standout films for its originality, Sideral is the tale of a troubled Brazilian family living in the shadow of a space centre where the first ever rocket launch from the country is about to take place. Shot with a distinct black and white aesthetic (which surprisingly doesn’t feel gimmicky), the short blends social-realism with sci-fi elements to make for a memorable watch. |
 | Warsha by Dania Bdeir Having played Clermont-Ferrand, Rotterdam, Sundance, SXSW and more, Dania Bdeir’s narrative centres around a Beirut crane operator looking to escape the restrictions of his life and live out his secret passion. Featuring some impressive high-rise photography and an ending sure to live in your memory long after watching, I’d be very surprised if this short didn’t catch the voter’s attention. |
 | O Lobo Solitário (The Lone Wolf) by Filipe Melo We love a good one-take film on Short of the Week and alum Filipe Melo (Sleepwalk) really knocked it out of the park with this gripping story of an abusive radio presenter outed by an old “friend” live on air. Like all successful “oners”, the one continuous shot means there’s a real urgency and sense of authenticity to proceedings and despite its 24-minute duration the short flies by thanks to its captivating, thrilling storyline and stellar performances. |
 | Le Pupille by Alice Rohrwacher Commissioned by Disney, this Christmas story set in Catholic boarding school features some real cinematic magic (easy to see why the mouse-loving entertainment conglomerate got its white gloves on it). Its period setting gives it a classical feel, while the filmmaking walks an unpredictable line between traditional and contemporary. This has to be a strong favourite for this year’s Best Live Action Short Film award. |
 | Almost Home by Nils Keller A sci-fi with a hugely impressive production, Nils Keller’s Almost Home is almost worth including for its zero-gravity scenes alone. Post-pandemic, it’s story of an outbreak of a dangerous virus on Earth feels topical, while its character driven approach means there’s more to this short than just its eye-catching visuals. It’s always nice to see a genre film on the shortlist. |