Short films have frequently proved to be a reliable litmus test when scouting the film industry for the best up-and-coming talent. Short pictures are the breeding ground for budding filmmakers, the future directors of tomorrow. From Christopher Nolan, Ari Aster, and James Cameron, to Steven Spielberg, Spike Jonze, and Denis Villeneuve, some of the greatest directors of the modern era began their filmmaking careers directing shorts. With a plethora of exciting new releases nominated for this year's Academy Awards, let’s take a look at the live-action and animated shorts up for potential Oscar gold.
10 The Flying Sailor
The Flying Sailor is a Canadian short cartoon inspired by real-life events. The film presents the fascinating story of a sailor who, after an explosion on his ship, is launched into a journey filled with existentialism and self-discovery as a result of a near-death experience.
9 Ivalu
Directed by up-and-coming Danish director, Anders Walter, Ivalu has been adapted from the acclaimed graphic novel of the same. Set in rural Greenland, the young Pipaluk (Mila Hellmann Kreuptzmann) frantically searches for her missing older sister, Ivalu, in the remote terrains of their Greenland village. Ivalu is a chilling, mysterious, and hallucinatory tale of a missing girl and the gradual unraveling of her story of sexual abuse and violence. A worthy nomination regardless of its chances of claiming the prestigious Best Short Film (Live Action), that shouldn’t take away from what is a truly astounding achievement.
8 An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It
Netflix recently played host to the international premiere of Guillermo Del Toro’s Oscar-touted stop-motion animation classic, Pinocchio, and 2022’s tremendous stop-motion offerings didn’t end there. With a design reminiscent of Wallace and Gromit, An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It is an eccentric short flick that follows an office worker who discovers the chinks in his stop-motion world’s armor with the help of an ostrich.
7 My Year of Dicks
Let’s be Frank — life is full of dicks, literally and figuratively. Taken from the memoir of Pamela Ribon, Notes to Boys: And Other Things I Shouldn’t Share in Public, this short is a hilarious and thoroughly uplifting piece of animation, as 15-year-old Pam traverses the at times toxic male landscape as she attempts to lose her virginity. My Year of Dicks is a brilliant coming-of-age tale that adopts a really original look, and even if it doesn't win, we still got to see Riz Ahmed's befuddled face as he read the title during the nominations' announcement.
6 Night Ride
Although this Norwegian-language film officially received its premiere in 2020, Nattrikken (“The Night Cap”) was rebranded Night Ride for English-speaking audiences, and it concerns the tale of Ebba (Sigrid Kandal Husjord), a lady who waits to catch the tram on our way home on a cold December night following a party. The unexpected transpires when Ebba inadvertently hijacks a tram, with her evening taking an unanticipated turn as she picks up several, disgruntled passengers on the way. It's a short that highlights sexism, gender disparity, and the urgent need for women to be safer when out in public at night.
5 Ice Merchants
COLA
In this picture-book-looking throwback, director Joao Gonzalez offers a beautifully Quentin Blake-esque illustration of the story of a father and son, who are required each day to jump with a parachute from their humble abode which lies atop a plinth next to a cliff-face. Making the pilgrimage daily, the pair glide into their local village to sell fresh ice. This is a wonderfully whimsical, fanciful flick that has so much charm, charisma, and a joyous narrative at its heart.
4 The Red Suitcase
The Red Suitcase is a powerful, politically-charged piece of filmmaking and a love letter to the oppressed women of Iran. The film, written and directed by Iranian man Cyrus Neshvad, confronts the issue of arranged marriage as a 16-year-old girl, waiting to collect her red suitcase from the airport’s conveyer belt, becomes increasingly frightened and visibly agitated, as her fate looms large at the arrivals gate where her new and unchosen life awaits her.
In just an 18-minute runtime, the Persian language-film addresses such a complex and sensitive issue in a deeply evocative manner. Given America’s fractious relations with Iran, there is an element of surprise that it has received a nomination at all; that said the short’s subject is compelling, and educational, and highlights the need for change in the Middle Eastern country.
3 The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse
BBC
In this minimalist screen adaptation of author Charlie Mackesy’s novel, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse, we follow a lost boy as he traipses through the snowy woodland, in a story of magical friendship. The boy, of course, befriends a fox, mole, and horse, and the four of them attempt to get the boy home safely as their blossoming bond develops along the way. It's an ultimate kids' tale, and one that’ll certainly be looking to capture the hearts of those at the Academy. Its early acclaim has it as the likely front-runner, and probably the most-seen animated short film of the year thanks to the BBC, Apple TV+, and J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot production company all being behind it.
2 The Pupils (Le Pupille)
Understandably, it’s the Disney+ short picture, which boasts two-time Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuaron as a producer, that is the bookies' favorite to claim the revered Best Short Film (Live Action) accolade. Yet, it’s not just the fact that Alice Rohrwacher’s The Pupils has both the financial and esteemed filmmaker's backing, but also for the simple, and most prominent reason: it’s darn good.
The detailed, 37-minute short film details a beautifully composed Italian Christmas tale, set against the backdrop of a snowy convent-run girls' boarding school. This quirky drama, which is now available to stream on Disney+, follows an endearing yet rebellious group of young girls who, during the midst of war and rationing, grow increasingly challenged by the strict and disciplined religious devotion imposed on them by uncompromising nuns, the cause of their unrest.
1 An Irish Goodbye
Goldfinch
For those of you unfamiliar with the term “an Irish goodbye”, it simply means the failure to bid farewell to those at a party, gathering, or date, and instead opting to slip quietly out the back door unnoticed. In this charming Northern Irish short that is our personal favorite of the nominees, a mother has passed away unexpectedly; her two sons, Turlough (Seamus O’Hara) and Lorcan (James Martin), are denied the chance to say goodbye.
Instead, the estranged brothers are brought together by their birth-giver’s untimely passing, and as such reconnect as they fulfill a list of her dying wishes together. A story of reunification, loss, and the love between a man and his Down syndrome brother, An Irish Goodbye is a film that promises to be both moving and also well-comically timed. Directors Tom Berkeley and Ross White may have an outside chance of Academy recognition, but you never know; after all, the nomination took the pair by surprise, and the film is a real charmer and great companion piece to another great Irish movie fo 2022, The Banshees of Inisherin.