Short films are a crucial proving ground for up-and-coming filmmakers, and a very entertaining cinematic form for the audience. Almost anyone these days can make a short film, and there are lots out there, but the best ones are a superb showcase for new movie-making talent. The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences selects the best of the year and nominates them for Oscars, in three different categories.
Action Short Films are, essentially, miniature versions of narrative fiction features, cinematic short stories of 40 min. or less. Many of the filmmakers responsible for these brief delights will be heard from again, soon, with their first feature-length project.
The nominees for Best Live Action Short Film are:
Brotherhood
(d. Meryam Joobeur, Canada, 25 min.)
Mohamed is deeply shaken when his oldest son Malik returns home after a long journey with a mysterious new wife.
Nefta Football Club
(d. Yves Piat, France/Tunisia/Algeria, 17 min.)
Two young brothers find a donkey wearing headphones, and a saddle bag of white powder, in the desert.
Saria
(d. Bryan Buckley, U.S., 23 min.)
The story of two Guatemalan sisters -- Saria 12, and her sister Ximena, 14 -- as they fight against mounting daily physical abuse in an orphanage, and devise a daring plan of escape for all the orphans to find freedom in America.
Une soeur (A Sister)
(d. Delphine Girard, Belgium, 16 min.)
A night. A car. A woman in trouble. A call.
The Neighbors' Window
(d. Marshall Curry, U.S., 20 min.)
A middle aged mother's life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street.