Today marks a further narrowing of the field in the race for the Short Film Oscars, as the announcement of the nominations reduces the pool from 45 contenders to just 15 films – five nominees in each of the three categories: Best Animated Short Film, Best Documentary Short Film, and Best Live Action Short Film.

As the final cut before the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, March 15, this stage reveals which campaigns have successfully gained momentum and which filmmakers now have a genuine chance of taking home one of the film industry’s most prestigious honors.

We already picked our favorites – in our Voter’s Guide – but here are the official 2026 Nominees:

Best Animated Short

Retirement Plan Short film

John Kelly’s Retirement Plan is one of the S/W team’s favorites in the Best Animated Short Film category

  • Papillon (Butterfly) by Florence Miailhe | Film Page
  • Forevergreen by Nathan Engelhardt & Jeremy Spears | Watch Trailer
  • La jeune fille qui pleurait des perles (The Girl Who Cried Pearls) by Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski | Watch Trailer
  • Retirement Plan by John Kelly | Watch Film | S/W Article
  • The Three Sisters by Timur Kognov | Watch Trailer

Previous winner: In the Shadow of the Cypress by Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani

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Best Documentary Short

perfectly a strangeness

perfectly a strangeness was described by S/W curator Jason Sondhi as “the sort of outside-the-box selection I would like the Academy to increasingly recognize”

  • All the Empty Rooms by Joshua Seftel | Watch Film (Netflix Online)
  • Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud by Craig Renaud & Brent Renaud | Watch Film (HBO Max only)
  • Children No More: “Were and Are Gone” by Hilla Medalia | Watch Trailer
  • The Devil Is Busy by Geeta Gandbhir & Christalyn Hampton | Watch Film  (HBO Max only)
  • Perfectly a Strangeness by Alison McAlpine | Watch Trailer

Previous winner: The Only Girl in the Orchestra by Molly O’Brien

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Best Live-Action Short

Two People Exchanging Saliva

Two People Exchanging Saliva was featured on Short of the Week in Nov 2025

Previous winner: I’m Not a Robot by Victoria Warmerdam

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