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On this week\u2019s Little Gold Men<\/em> podcast, I joined hosts Rebecca Ford and John Ross to discuss the Oscar-nominated shorts, which ask viewers to consider big topics\u2014from conflict in the Middle East to abortion access in post-Dobbs<\/em> America\u2014each in under 40 minutes. You can listen below for the complete conversation, as well as a look at how surprising PGA<\/a> and Actor Awards<\/a> outcomes have shaken up the final week before Oscars. But for more on the shorts\u2014and where to watch many of them totally for free\u2014read on.<\/p>\n All the Empty Rooms:<\/em> Director Joshua Seftel follows CBS News reporter Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp as they document the untouched rooms of school-shooting victims and speak with their parents.<\/p>\n Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud:<\/em> The first American journalist to be killed while reporting on the Ukraine war is not only subject of his posthumous doc, but one of its directors and editors alongside brother Craig Renaud, who memorializes his late sibling\u2019s work while transporting Brent\u2019s body back from the war zone.<\/p>\n Children No More: \u201cWere and Are Gone\u201d:<\/em> Director-producer Hilla Medalia and producers Sheila Nevins and Yael Melamede follow activists in Tel Aviv who stage weekly silent protests with the printed-out images of children killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. (The film is not currently streaming in the US, but is still playing in theaters<\/a>.)<\/p>\n The Devil Is Busy:<\/em> Directed by Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir (whose feature-length documentary The Perfect Neighbor<\/em><\/a> is also Oscar-nominated), the film captures delicate daily life at an Atlanta abortion clinic through its quietly steely head of security, Tracii.<\/p>\n Perfectly a Strangeness:<\/em> Three donkeys travel across the Chilean desert, where filmmaker Alison McAlpine follows them to an unnamed, abandoned, yet still operational, space telescope. Watch on Kanopy<\/a> or the Criterion Channel<\/a><\/p>\n Which Will Win? All the Empty Rooms<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In addition to its lasting imagery, the film has had a regular platform for exposure with CBS\u2019s Hartman, who has promoted the project on his regular CBS Sunday Morning<\/em> gig<\/a>, as well as some of the network\u2019s affiliates.<\/a> And one shouldn\u2019t underestimate the power of a revolving place on the Netflix home page: The streamer has won this category four times since 2014.<\/p>\n Butterfly:<\/em> Inside the life of Alfred Nakache, a French Algerian Olympic swimmer who competed at the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics, survived being separated from his family at Auschwitz, and went on to compete in the Olympics once again, this time in London in 1948.<\/p>\n Forevergreen<\/em>: Zootopia<\/em> animators return to the wild for the story of an abandoned bear club who is raised by an evergreen tree until their unlikely bond is inevitably broken.<\/p>\n The Girl Who Cried Pearls:<\/em> An old man tells his granddaughter how he received his most prized possession, a single pearl, from a mysterious woman in this twisty, stop-motion animated tale.<\/p>\n Retirement Plan:<\/em> This one hails from The New Yorker<\/em> and features the voice of Domhnall Gleeson<\/a> as a man musing about what his retirement might look like, which reveals less of a bucket list for the years left to live, but a trail of regrets about the time already lost.<\/p>\n The Three Sisters<\/em>: A trio of siblings living in adjoining cottages compete for the affections of their new tenant on an isolated island in a dialogue-free short that ends with a Seven Brides for Seven Brothers<\/em><\/a>\u2013esque twist. (The film is not currently streaming in the US, but still available in theaters<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Which Will Win?<\/strong> Butterfly<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n This category can be notoriously tricky to predict, so I\u2019m going with an animated short that soared highest during my recent sold-out screening at Brooklyn\u2019s Nitehawk Cinema. Director Florence Miailhe\u2019s use of animated oil paintings that mimic French painters like Monet and Matisse treat viewers to rich, evocative visuals. And the filmmaker\u2019s footnote, in which we learn Miailhe was taught to swim by Nakache\u2019s brother, lingers long after leaving the movie theater.<\/p>\n Butcher\u2019s Stain:<\/em> A Palestinian butcher\u2019s job at an Israeli supermarket is threatened when he is falsely accused of desecrating posters of political hostages.<\/p>\n A Friend of Dorothy:<\/em> Led by beloved British character actor Miriam Margolyes as an octogenarian who befriends a young teen with an interest in theater.<\/p>\n Jane Austen\u2019s Period Drama:<\/em> This Pride & Prejudice<\/em> spoof stars a Regency-era woman named Estrogenia who, despite her pride and his potential prejudice, educates her gentleman caller on a woman\u2019s menstrual cycle.<\/p>\n The Singers:<\/em> Patrons in a blue-collar dive bar find unexpected solace with one another during an impromptu singing contest.<\/p>\n Two People Exchanging Saliva:<\/em> In a futuristic black-and-white dystopia where kissing is outlawed and slaps are currency, a wealthy woman and the shopgirl who sells her clothing tempt the status quo.<\/p>\nBest Documentary Short<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Best Animated Short<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Best Live-Action Short<\/strong><\/h2>\n