Short of the Week
We’ve followed the short films battling for an Oscar from festival to shortlist to voting. The 45 films across the three categories – Best Animated Short Film, Best Live Action Short Film & Documentary (Short Subject) – represented an eclectic range of styles, subjects and approaches, as student productions lined up against studio productions and famous faces battled innovative journalism.
Getting your work on the shortlist is obviously a huge achievement for any filmmaker, but to be in with a shout of getting your hands on that infamous golden statuette you have to make the cut to the nominee stage. With voting now closed, today (Tuesday 8th Feb 2022) is the day when 45 become just 15, as the Academy announces the short films in the running for collecting the most-recognisable accolade in filmmaking at the 94th Academy Awards.
Here are this year’s nominees:
Best Animated Short Film
A scene from Alberto Mielgo’s impressive The Windshield Wiper – one of five shorts in the running for Best Animated Short Film
- Affairs of the Art by Joanna Quinn (Watch on The New Yorker’s YouTube)
- Bestia by Hugo Covarrubias (Watch On-Demand)
- Boxballet by Anton Dyakov (Watch Trailer)
- Robin Robin by Dan Ojari & Mikey Please (Watch on Netflix)
- The Windshield Wiper by Alberto Mielgo (Watch on SotW)
Reaction: With three of our favourites from the shortlist making the cut and no sign of Pixar/Disney, this year’s nominations feel like a real celebration of independent animation – something we’ve been hoping for from The Academy for a while now. We’re obviously sad Bastien DuBois’ brilliant Souvenir Souvenir and Reza Riahi’s stunning Navozande, le musicien (Navozande, the musician) didn’t make it through, but with alums Dan Ojari, Mikey Please and Alberto Mielgo in the running for an Oscar this is certainly a category we’ll be watching closely on March 27th. Robin Robin may feel like the frontrunner here, but The Windshield Wiper has a strong outside chance.
***
Best Live Action Short Film
Riz Ahmed in Aneil Karia’s The Long Goodbye – a music video/narrative hybrid.
- Ala Kachuu – Take and Run by Maria Brendle (Watch on Demand)
- The Dress by Tadeusz Lysiak (Read SotW Article / Watch on Demand)
- The Long Goodbye by Aneil Karia (Watch on SotW)
- On my Mind by Martin Strange-Hansen (Watch Trailer)
- Please Hold by KD Dávila (Watch Trailer)
Reaction: There are some really strong films left off this list, with none of the S/W favourites making it through to the nominee stage. However, having followed the development of director Aneil Karia since his 2013 short BEAT, we couldn’t be happier to see his name amongst the nominees and his collaboration with Riz Ahmed must stand a good chance of scooping the Best Live-Action Short Film award now. It’s up against some strong competition though, with Tadeusz Lysiak’s The Dress and KD Davila’s (writer of both the Emergency short and feature) directorial debut Please Hold, ones to keep an eye on.
***
Documentary (Short Subject)
The Queen of Basketball tells the story of Lusia “Lucy” Harris Stewart, a pioneer in women’s basketball
- Audible by Matthew Ogens (Watch on Netflix)
- Lead Me Home by Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk (Watch on Netflix)
- The Queen Of Basketball by Ben Proudfoot (Watch on SotW)
- Three Songs for Benazir by Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei (Watch on Netflix)
- When We Were Bullies by Jay Rosenblatt (Watch Trailer)
Reaction: Another strong year for Netflix in the documentary category, with three of the five titles in the nominee list already in their catalogue. With S/W regular Ben Proudfoot (The Lost Astronaut, A Concerto is a Conversation) nominated for a second year running, 2022 could well be his year with his insightful and emotive short The Queen of Basketball. Capturing the life of an important sporting figure, long overlooked by the history books, the story of Lusia Harris feels more than worthy of winning the 2022 Academy Award for Documentary (Short Subject).