Let’s dive right into the deep end this year, shall we?
Normally, I write a massive piece about all three short film categories, but this year I decided to break it into two separate posts to give the shorts more space. I was going to save Live Action Short for the final day of voting, but since cover this category the most, I thought we’d get right to it.
Through festivals and screenings 207 Live Action Short films have qualified for this year’s shortlist. How do you predict shortlist films? I like to think that people respond to the story itself. Having a well-known or famous executive producer can’t hurt either, but that doesn’t guarantee a nomination down the line. It really helps a film get seen, of course. Story comes first.
Live Action Short feels overwhelming robust this season, and I could actually make arguments for about 50 films to make the cut. Just because something doesn’t land in my predicted 15 doesn’t mean that someting from my Watch Out For section can’t make the cut. We have been truly spoiled this year when it comes to Live Action Short.
I noticed after I compiled this list that a lot of these films hinge on a pair of people coming together and how they might move forward with one another or through conflict. Just something to think about!
In alphabetical order, we have…
Ado
Director Sam Henderson asked his educator mother what she would do if a shooter barged into her school, and she told him that the only thing she could count on is if the perpetrator knew her. With a fantastic performance from Jenifer Lewis at its center, Ado brings the epidemic of gun violence in our schools to a literal stage, as Lewis’ character performs a section of Shakespeare’s text. More Black folks performing William Shakespeare on screen, please and thank you.
Read our interview with Henderson and Lewis here.
A Bear Remembers
So much of Zhang + Knight’s drama has stuck with me since I saw it back in the summer, and, even stranger, those feelings have matured and mutated over time. A foggy mountain town is haunted by an echoing, banging sound so much that they have learned to live with it. A cocky young man goes up the hill with an older woman to finally discover its origins. Everyone will have a different interpretation of what this pair finds, as the viewer walks back down the hill. Why not honor a film that lets questions linger?
Read our interview with the filmmakers here.
Beyond Silence
A pair of sisters request an unexpected meeting with a tenured professor. The academic doesn’t know why they are coming to her, but Eva, who is deaf, reveals that a superior who she is working with assaulted her a second time. Eva’s sister, Anna, translates for her and pushes her to tell the whole truth, and Sandrine, the professor, must grapple with her own past in real time. After MeToo, how much responsibility do we have for each other? How do we look out for one another in an immediate way?
Read our interview with director Marnie Blok here.
Dad’s Not Home
The Student Academy Awards winner has landed on the shortlist for the last few years, so it’s easy to see why we would include Jan Saczek’s drama here. It centers on two brothers who try to hide their father’s developing dementia. This is a short that I actually haven’t caught yet, so I am eager to see it!
Extremist
A Russian girl switches price tags on bags of sugar to sentiments against the invasion of Ukraine, and she is sentenced to hefty prison time. Alexander Molochnikov’s film feels like it straddles the line between live action fiction and documentary filmmaking since this was based on the actions of Sasha Skochilenko. When the person who reports Sasha does so without knowing who is responsible, it make us wonder about the duties to our country and the ridiculous lengths people will go to to hold onto their positions of power. For those who are worried with where America is heading, this might resonate with them.
Extremist is streaming via The New Yorker’s YouTube page.
A Friend of Dorothy
Lee Knight’s warm, inviting film is about friendship, but there is something even more alive underneath its surface. JJ kicks a ball over a garden wall and rings the doorbell to retrieve it, but he is taken aback when Dorothy (Hello, Miriam Margolyes!) requests that he open a can of prunes for her. She sees him looking at her packed bookshelves full of plays and asks him to read something for her. It’s not just about a connection but about how art can connect people no matter the age, race, or gender. Knight’s film ignites curiosity and invites conversation.
Read our interview with Knight here and our review of the film here.
I’m Glad You’re Dead Now
This Cannes winner would follow in the footsteps of last year’s The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent to a nomination if it makes the cut. Two brothers return to their island home where childhood secrets threaten to be revealed. Director Tawfeek Barhom’s film recently gained two new executive producers in Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara.
Olive
Maybe I am biased because I love Lesley Ann Warren so much, but her performance in Tom Koch’s film about memory, love, and time has stuck with me in really surreal ways. The less you know about this structure the better (you can watch the film here), but Koch’s dedication to showing the normalcies of a couple struggling with illness is rather magnificent. He plays with color, tone, sound, and perspective.
Read our interview with Koch and Warren here.
One Day This Kid
Alexander Farah’s emotional wallop of a film brings us alongside one queer, Afghan man and analyzes the connective tissue of how we think we need to present masculinity and manliness as we move through adolescence and into adulthood. Divided into three chapters, Farah shows how queer people silence themselves in order to remain guarded and keep a watchful eye on those that may hurt us emotionally. Do we push others away to protect our hearts more? How does that affect our personal growth and tethers to each other? Massey Ahmar’s truly excellent in the film’s final act, and the last shot will knock you out.
Read our full review of the film here and read our interview with Farah here. One Day This Kid is available to watch on Criterion Channel.
Rise
A boxing coach is reluctant to take on a new athlete, but he cannot resist the charm and enthusiasm of a young boy in this Zimbabwean film from director Jessica J. Rowlands. The chemistry between Coach Tobias and Rise, Tongayi Chirisa and Sikhanyiso Ngwenya, respectively, is enough to grab the audience and that’s before the training begins. This is a story about meeting someone that you didn’t know you needed at the right moment. The cinematography is fantastic. Rise was the first film from Zimbabwe to be shown at Tribeca this year. The film has a spirit as big as its character’s.
The Second Time Around
Jack Howard’s film about loneliness, recollection, and time is filtered through horror and thriller motifs. A young woman closing a cafe spies a woman standing at the locked door. She asks if she can step inside to look for an umbrella that she may have left behind, and they sit and have a conversation. It’s unsettling but seductive at the same time. Howard credits films like Longlegs and Halloween for elements of his story as the emotional impact hits us like a warm breeze on a frigid day.
Read our interview with Howard here.
The Singers
Sam A. Davis does wonders with light, space and song in this film about a collection of men that time seems to have forgotten. When a barfly tries to sing for his next drink, it sparks a contest within the other bar patrons to see who can take home $100 and a coveted six pack of beer. Davis creates a world seemingly isolated from the rest of the world, or maybe the rest of the world has shut these guys out? You root for the next guy to stand up and take a chance.
Read our review of the film here.
Snipped
As a man continues his conversion to Judaism, he steps into a doctor’s office to be circumcised. It’s a fairly routine procedure, but he becomes wary when he learns that his doctor is Muslim. It’s a film that director Alexander Saul hopes bridges any gap that it can, and it features unexpected humor to bring the audience in. It’s worth noting that producers Rebecca Pruzan and Kim Magnussen are attached to this film. Never count them out.
Read our interview with Saul and Pruzan here.
The Truck
With America overturning Roe vs. Wade, Liz Rao’s film lives in that judgement’s aftermath. What begins as a dreamy tale of young love becomes the first time that a couple is truly tested when they have to obtain a morning after pill. Rao’s film is a coming-of-age that feels unsettling familiar, and it features a trio of strong performances from Shirley Chen, Daniel Zolghadri, and Garrett Richmond that linger after the film concludes.
Read our interview with Rao (and watch the film) here.
Two People Exchanging Saliva
This absurdist tale about love that blooms under authoritarianism is a lot of things at once: romantic, hilarious, dangerous, weird, gorgeous. A newly employed shopgirl is drawn to an affluent married woman in this stark black-and-white dark comedy where no one is allowed to kiss and you pay for things by getting slapped in the face. Directors Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata manage to swirl together a cocktail of danger, intimacy, and garlic-flavored chewing gum to marvelous effect. It’s ambitious and full of yearning but never feels silly or unearned.
Read our interview with the directors here.
Next Tier
Some of my favorite shorts of the season are on this list, and I could see any of these joining the above 15.
- After Dark – A man struggles with helping a distressed young woman on the streets of Norway in Iain Forbes’ film; what would you do?
- Don’t be late, Myra – Afia Nathaniel’s drama balances two thrillers at the same time as a mother and daughter try to get back to one another
- Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting – Alexander Thompson’s Dust Bowl era fantasy has impressive visuals and smashes together beauty with trauma
- Jedo’s Dead – Great child performances anchor Sara Nimeh’s film about siblings who discover some truths about their family in the aftermatch of 9/11
- Key of Genius – Daniel Persitz’s true life story of a blind, autistic musical prodigy will surely catch the eyes (and ears) of voters
- Largo – One boy is trapped between two countries as he longs for his parents’ return in a condemnation of racism
- Mercenaire – When a released convict is given a work assignment in a slaughterhouse, his violent past threatens to creep back into his psyche
- Money Talk$ – A $100 bill travels through Reagan-era New York City in Tony Mucci’s exuberant film
- The Pearl Comb – An alluring, bloody fantasy hypnotizes you alongside a tale of gender politics. Oh, and the siren call of a gorgeous mermaid.
- Rock, Paper, Scissors – Are we underestimating this BAFTA winner?
- Single Residence Occupancy – Omer Ben-Shachar utilizes space and emotions in a deep way for a tense moment between mother and her children
- Susana – Connection and loneliness come center stage in this comedic short about one woman trying to find her place in the world on her Mexican vacation
- The Thief – Christoffer R. Stenbakken showcases Greenland in an entirely new way in this tale of a young boy looking for his missing sledding dog
- Trapped – A high school janitor runs into a dangerous game of rich boy initiation in this short from the directors of last year’s A Lien
- Walud – A Syrian shepherd’s wife questions their life together when he brings home a new, young wife
Don’t Count Out…
Brothers
The Boy with White Skin
Flight 182
Holy Curse
A Love Letter to M
L’Avance
Poreless
There Come Soft Rains
