The Oscar-nominated shorts are always a delight, year after year and 2025 is no exception. Highly recommended!
There are 3 categories and it is hard to predict which one is best. One year it could be documentary and another live action. As the shorts were received late, this article will be updated daily till all the shorts are reviewed.
Documentary
ANIMATION
BEURK! (YUCK!) (France 2024) ***½
Directed by Loic Espuche
This short short runs around 12 minutes but it is a sheer delight and perhaps the most fun of all the animated shorts nominated for the Oscar. A group of kids at a camping site cannot help it group together to watch adults kiss. When they kiss, the words “Yulk!, Gross! I will never do that when I grow up.) come out of the children’s mouths. One other kid even claims it is even more gross as he had also seen his parents ‘doing it’. Couples kissing on the mouth are gross. And the worst is, you can't miss them: when people are about to kiss, their lips become all pink and shiny. Little Léo, which the short centres on laughs at them, just like all the kids at the summer camp. But he has a secret he won't tell his friends: his own mouth has actually begun glistening. And, in reality, Léo desperately wants to give kissing a try. BEURCK is the French word for Yuck meaning ‘a mess’. There is actually more to the laughs as the short tackles deeper themes like growing up.
BEAUTIFUL MEN (Belgium/France/Netherlands 2023) ****
Directed by Nicolas Keppens
Three brothers (Steven, Koen and Bart) travel to Istanbul in 2021 (pandemic is on as can be seen by the wearing of masks) to get a hair transplant. Apparently, once bald men get their hair they are on top of the world. The clincher is that there is only one spot for one transplant, and not three. The idea of homosexuality is eliminated by the fact that the three are brothers. Using stop-animation, Keppens delivers a sensitive, insightful, and mature look at masculinity. As they wait for the transplant, they wander around Istanbul and discover more of themselves and of each other. Aptly animated (with details like the crumbling of a sock), entertaining and the element of curiosity about what happens in the story is maintained throughout. This is an odd delight, having made its rounds through international animation film festivals while garnishing many awards.
MAGIC CANDIES (Japan 2025) ****
Directed by Daisuke Nishio
No one wants to play with Dong Dong. The other kids at the park never ask Dong-Dong to play. That's ok. He's fine just playing marbles on his own. One day, he buys a bag of colourful candies instead of new marbles. The first time he pops one of them into his mouth, his old sofa starts talking to him. The two share an unexpected conversation before the sweet melts away. As it happens, the people, animals, and objects in Dong-Dong's life have a lot to say. (The candies could stand for drugs adults take to hallucinate - but let's consider this short as a harmless magical tale!… ) With each candy, he discovers new voices and perspectives, including his own. Heartfelt and totally strange, Magic Candies will have you rethinking how you treat the objects, and others, in your life. The talking sofa is the funniest, the talking dog Gunsuri the most insightful and the resurrected grandmother the most heartfelt. This one gets my vote for Best Animated Short!
WANDER TO WONDER (France/Belgium/Netherlands/UK 2023) ***½
Directed by Nina Gantz
If there is a weird one, WANDER TO WONDER would be a hard one to beat. Though only 14 minutes in running time, the short covers a lot of material in terms of thinking. In the 1980s, Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton starred in the children's television program Wander to Wonder. They are left alone in the studio after the show's originator passed away. Left alone in the studio without any clue how to survive, the trio in essence wander to wonder how to carry on. Struggling to find enough to eat, they continue to make increasingly strange episodes for their fans. They cope, but only to a point when things start to turn crazy. Toby Jones is the well-known Brit actor who voices Fumblteton. The short is odd and funny, then turns seriously curious tacking issues like loneliness, death, and emotional stability.
DOCUMENTARY
DEATH BY NUMBERS (USA 2024) ***½
Directed by Kim A. Snyder
A harrowing experience of trauma and survival given the full serious treatment of a survivor, Sam Fuentes of a mass killing in her school. She confronts the killer at the ending scene in which she delivers, in court, a testimony (an unforgettable scene) of what she went through in terms of trauma and survival (she was wounded) and how she tells him what he had become. Death by Numbers had its world premiere on October 5, 2024 at the Hamptons International Film Festival and finally won the prestigious nomination for Best Oscar Nominated Short. Another brilliant film that comes to mind about a mass shooting is Lynne Ramsay’s 2011 WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN which would be the ideal companion piece with this short.
I AM READY, WARDEN (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Smriti Mundhra
The short opens with convicted murderer John Henry Ramirez speaking to the camera, 6 days before his execution for the murder of Pablo Castro after 29 stabbings outside a convenience store. John Henry thanks those who have supported him and talks about his regret of his deed and indeed, he is ready for his execution. The short puts the quince on his side before turning the tables when the next scene shifts to the son, 14 at the time when his father was senselessly murdered. He, understandably wants justice in the death sentence. The short also looks at Pastor Dana’s point of view when she says that John Henry is a changed man, and no longer the man he was before. I AM READY WARDEN does to judge but allows the viewer to do so on their own terms. But more important of all, is the question of capital punishment. When questioned by ex-PM Brian Mulroney on bringing back capital punishment, his reply was that Canadians would never return to primitive times.
INCIDENT (USA 2023) ****
Directed by Bill Morrison
INCIDENT gets my vote for the most arresting doc short eliciting raw emotions, uneasiness, and conscience. This is film editing at its most efficient. And all based on a true but regretful event that should never have happened. The film reconstructs a 2018 police shooting in Chicago, reassembling the event and its immediate aftermath from a variety of sources, including surveillance, CCTV, dashboard, and body-worn cameras, as a synchronized split-screen montage. A black barber is shot to death for no reason at all, the cops were responsible though they had thought that he had a gun hidden under his shirt, though he did not. The cops try to cover it up - obviously, especially the white female cop Halley who clearly is the vicious villain in the short, lying through her teeth and protecting her partner, See this short at your own risk!
INSTRUMENTS OF A BEATING HEART (Japan 2024) ***
Directed by Ema Ryan Yamazaki
The documentary follows Ayame, a schoolgirl, Ayame eager to participate in a group performance of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" to welcome new first graders. Encouraged by the teacher to think beyond herself, Ayame wins the cymbal role in the audition. However, a lack of dedication to her task leads to mistakes during rehearsals, prompting the teacher to emphasize the importance of harmony and diligence. Following a reprimand during practice, Ayame loses confidence. Classmates and teachers offer encouragement and support, leading her to rejoin the group and become a part of its eventual success. The film is performed by the teachers and students of a Tokyo public school which gives the short authenticity and credibility. Accolades too, for young Ayame playing herself, delivering a knockout performance for such a youngster.
THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ORCHESTRA (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Molly O’Brien
THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ORCHESTRA (the Philharmonic) is as the title of the short implies, a short with a strong female slant. And with reason. In 1966 conductor Leonard Bernstein praised Orin O’Brien as a miracle. Orin O'Brien, a trailblazing double bassist, became the New York Philharmonic's first female musician in 1966, hired by Leonard Bernstein. Now 87 and recently retired, she reflects on her remarkable career, valuing a quiet, supportive role for loved ones and students. The documentary by her niece, Molly O’Brien, highlights Orin’s impact and her belief that fulfillment lies in embracing a secondary role. The film is an homage to the O’Briens and all women who strive to excel in the field of their dreams. And if that is not enough - the soundtrack of classics such as Mahler’s Symphony Number 2 can be heard throughout. THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ORCHESTRA is now playing and can be viewed on Netflix.
LIVE ACTION
ANUJA (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Adam J. Graves
ANUJA is a 2024 American Hindi-language short film written and directed by philosopher-turned-filmmaker Adam J. Graves. Starring Sajda Pathan, Ananya Shanbhag and Nagesh Bhonsle, it tells the story of a gifted (in Mathematics) nine-year-old girl who, alongside her sister Palak, faces a life-changing opportunity that tests their bond and mirrors the struggles of girls worldwide. The setting is a clothing sweatshop in overcrowded New Delhi where the two siblings work. The seriousness of the message of the film, which is assumed to make the world aware of child labour and other abuses, is undermined by the incident of Anuja trying to sell stolen goods from the authorities. Anuja is seen running around with her pursuers but the camerawork looks amateurish and forced, ANUJA is available to be watched in Netflix.
I AM NOT A ROBOT (Belgium/Netherlands 2023) ****
Directed by Victoria Warmerdam
In Drew Hancock’s recent COMPANION, the premise of the film purports that the sex doll can be attuned to A.I. capabilities resulting in a programmable companion for any human being. The impressive short I AM NOT A ROBOT treads along the same lines but though only a short, it accomplishes more than Hancock’s feature-length film. It parodies much of what social media does. The film’s protagonist, Lara is told by her boyfriend and his new girlfriend that she is a ‘bot’ She questions the fact as the internet says she is 87% probability offing a robot, especially after repeatedly failing Captcha tests. The answer comes at the very end forming the short's climax. Very smart, very imaginative, very current, and thoroughly entertaining!
A LIEN (USA 2023) ***½
Directed by David Cutler-Kreutz and Sam Cutler-Kreutz
In this short, what property is a lien is up to the audience to figure out. But this is an emotionally charged short that is as current as President Donald Trump evicts illegal immigrants from the U.S. using g the ICE, clearly the villains of the piece. Trump has no respect for humans and treats immigrants as trash. Oscar and Sophia Gomez are a married couple with a young daughter, Nina, en route to an immigration interview that they hope will grant Oscar a path to citizenship. Oscar is to be interviewed first regarding their marriage, and he takes Nina with him, leaving Sophia alone in the waiting room. When asked if he has ever returned to his country of origin, Oscar explains to the interviewer that he first came to New York in 1994 and feels no connection to his home country. Meanwhile, in the waiting room, Sophia notices other undocumented immigrants being detained and taken out of the office in handcuffs by ICE. When they begin calling Oscar's name over the loudspeakers, she panics, fearing that they intend to arrest him as well. There is no happy ending here as during Trump’s 4-year term, but there is only hope.
THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT REMAIN SILENT (France/Croatia/Slovenia/Bulgaria 2024) *****
Directed by Nebojša Slijepčević
The film depicts the true story of the kidnapping and crime in Štrpci (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on February 27, 1993, on a passenger train travelling from Belgrade to Bar, when the Beli Orlovi paramilitary unit dragged 24 Muslims from the train and ended up killing them. Dragan is a middle-aged man in a train car with several other passengers, including the teenager Milan, a grandfather and granddaughter, and a college student. The train stops unexpectedly, and the White Eagles are granted access to the train by the conductor. The soldiers force each passenger back into their seats and demand documentation and personal details from each. Many passengers are heard being forcefully dragged out. Milan admits to Dragan that he has no paperwork, and will also be arrested, but Dragan assures him that nobody in the car will let anything happen to him. But the film’s non-silent man is not Dragan but another passenger, Tomo, whom the film is deicated to. Based on true events, the short unfolds like a true suspense train thriller. The short also won the grand prize for Best Short at Cannes, Clearly the Best of the lot.
