Little films are a very big deal at this year’s Academy Awards. Topics as heavy as PTSD, ethnic cleansing and the immigration system, and as light as music, kissing and children with a passion to perform are all vying for the short film Oscars. Here’s a look at the nominees in the documentary shorts, animated shorts and live-action shorts categories.
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
The proliferation of platforms distributing short subject documentaries in recent years has led to an abundance of high-quality films that pack a punch. This year’s five nominated short nonfiction docs stand out for their impactful and exquisite storytelling.
It’s anyone’s guess as to what film will take home The Little Gold Man, but if previous award season wins mean anything, Bill Morrison’s “Incident” could be a frontrunner. Told using police surveillance footage, Morrison offers a raw look at the Chicago police shooting of a Black man. The New Yorker film won the best short documentary award at the 2024 Cinema Eye Honors and the 2023 IDA Documentary Awards.
Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s “Instruments of a Beating Heart” garnered the IDA best short trophy in 2024. The film, about first graders in a Tokyo public elementary school who are tasked with performing “Ode to Joy” for incoming students, is The New York Times Op-Docs version of Yamazaki’s longer film, “The Making of a Japanese.” (Notably, Yamazaki edited “Black Box Diaries,” which was nominated for a best feature doc Academy Award this year.)
In the Netflix short “The Only Girl in the Orchestra,” director Molly O’Brien highlights groundbreaking double bassist Orin O’Brien, the first woman hired by the New York Philharmonic. The doc won the 2024 Critics Choice documentary award.
While Smriti Mundhra’s “I Am Ready, Warden” and Kim A. Snyder’s “Death by Numbers” haven’t earned any top honors at major award shows, both films debuted at prestigious film festivals — Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and The Hamptons Intl. Film Festival, respectively — and went on to have successful festival circuits.
In Mundhra’s Paramount+ doc “I Am Ready, Warden,” the director follows John Henry Ramirez, a Texas man on death row who spends his final days preparing a message for his victim’s son while saying goodbye to his own. Snyder’s 33-minute “Death by Numbers” chronicles Samantha Fuentes’ journey four years after being shot with an AR-15 during the Parkland High School shooting.
—Addie Morfoot
Death by Numbers
ANIMATED SHORTS
The Oscars’ 2025 animated short film category is one of the most open in years. Here’s a closer look at this year’s race.
Perhaps the biggest winner in the category is Miyu, the French company behind three of this year’s nominees: “Beautiful Men,” “Wander to Wonder” and “Yuck!”
Nicolas Keppens’ “Beautiful Men,” a Belgium-France-Netherlands co-production, is a touching stop-motion story about three bald brothers, who travel to Istanbul for hair transplants. It won a pair of prizes at Annecy.
Nina Gantz’s “Wander to Wonder” plays out like a dark alternative to “Toy Story,” as three sentient miniature TV characters are left in the studio to slowly decay after their creator dies. Six companies in four countries co-produced the stop-motion short, which won the Grand Jury prize at SXSW last year.
“Yuck!” from director Loïc Espuche turns on a group of kids who are grossed out when their older peers start kissing in a park. The vibrantly-colored 2D short wowed at Berlin last year — competing against live-action fare in the short film competition — and was nominated for two Annies in addition to its Oscar nod.
Last year, Yegane Moghaddam made history when her short “Our Uniform” became the first Iranian nominee in the category’s history in 2024. It didn’t take long for the country to repeat that feat this year by scoring a nomination with Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani’s 2D short “In the Shadow of the Cypress,” about a captain suffering from PTSD.
Daisuke Nishio’s “Magic Candies” rounds out the field. With a smaller festival resume and no major awards yet, the charming CG short cannot be overlooked. Produced by Japanese giant Toei Animation (“Sailor Moon,” “One Piece”), it tells the story of a boy who sees the world in new ways after enjoying a bag of enchanted sweets.
—Jamie Lang
Anuja
Graves Films
LIVE-ACTION SHORTS
The top filmmakers of tomorrow can often be found in the Oscars live-action short category of today. Here’s a closer look at the five titles nominated in 2025.
Adam J. Graves’ “Anuja” has some big-name backing, with Indian producer Guneet Monga Kapoor and Hollywood heavyweight Mindy Kaling both involved. The short, about a gifted 9-year-old girl working in a garment factory in India, won the live-action award at last year’s HollyShorts.
Victoria Warmerdam’s Dutch film “I’m Not a Robot” could easily be confused as one of the very best episodes of “Black Mirror.” Its lo-fi sci-fi setting is so relatable and recognizable that it’s almost discomforting to watch as a woman comes to the shocking realization that she’s a robot commissioned by her fiancé.
“The Last Ranger” is the second in a proposed trilogy of shorts from filmmaker Cindy Lee. The South African story follows a young girl on a magical visit to a wildlife reserve that goes horribly wrong when she and the park ranger accompanying her are ambushed by poachers.
After winning the Palme d’Or last May, Nebojša Slijepčević’s “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent” always felt destined for an Oscar nomination and will surely be one of the favorites to take the prize. It tells the true story of one man who stood up to paramilitary forces in an ethnic cleansing operation in Belgrade.
David and Sam Cutler-Kreutz are quickly making a name for themselves with a string of festival-favorite shorts. In late 2023, the duo debuted their now Oscar-nominated “A Lien,” a timely story about a young couple navigating the quagmire of the U.S. immigration system as they rush to a hugely important green card hearing with their daughter in tow. Not resting on their laurels, they’ve since also released “Trapped,” which world premiered at SXSW and won best U.S. short at Palm Springs.
—Jamie Lang
