Short films have been a way for independent filmmakers to taste the fame and notoriety associated with the Oscars. Each year, five live-action and five animated shorts are chosen to participate in the annual ceremony. So, how do you get nominated? Step one comes in getting qualified. Thousands of short films are winnowed down to hundreds by appearing at film festivals throughout the year, including HollyShorts and the Palm Springs Shorts Festival. Here are five films from European creators garnering the Oscar nod.
Dummy
Speaking of the hunt, a criminal is asked to recreate his brutal crime using a faceless dummy to represent his victim. But Laurynas Bareiša’s Dummy is about the lone female detective that is marginalized and the target of a steady stream of microaggressions as an obstacle to doing her job. Dummy Full Review
Foreigner
A British citizen on Holiday finds himself stranded in the middle of the ocean, and we’re right there with him—feeling every panicked and anxious feeling in Carlos Violadé’s Foreigner. Violadé’s cinematography only adds to our protagonist’s isolation and calm desire to stay alive. Foreigner Full Review.
Postcards From the End of the World
Where do you want to be when the world goes to Hell? Like the family in Konstantinos Antonopoulos’ Postcards From the End of the World, I want to see the world come to an end on a resort island. Postcards is a simple yet poignant tale of parents of two little girls finding the resourcefulness to survive at a resort location with no cell or internet service. Not everyone makes it out alive…and this is not a comedy. Postcards Full Review
Sh_t Happens
Do you prefer your cartoon characters using profanity, having sex, and being sodomized by a cucumber? Mihalyi and David Štumpf’s animated short Sh_t Happens is just what the doctor ordered. Nothing goes right for an apartment maintenance worker or his h***y wife. Someone call Spike & Mike. I found a new film for the festival. Sh_t Happens Review
Ivo
No good deed goes unpunished, which is the sentiment for Christina Lande’s IVO. Our hero is a school teacher Iben (Guri Johnson), who befriends a wallflower student by introducing him to her loyal dog, Ivo. It doesn’t go well when Ivo is framed for an attack he didn’t commit. Ivo Full Review
