#Oscars: The low down on the SHORTS

#TalkNerdytoMeLover’s Polly Dixon

If you are like me, you like to be “in the know” about awards season. And “knowing” for me means that I like to watch the shows – judge the outfits and argue with my friends over what was the best movie or who did the best acting job. I don’t really purport to know anything about the movie industry or anything…I’m just your average, judge-y nerd who likes to have an opinion about anything and everything (or at least pretend, I know something) . And THIS YEAR, because our own @JenFriel is headed to the Academy Awards…we ALL should be well informed.

With that said, do you ever wonder what the heck the Short Films are? And how/when/where to watch them and what they are? I have. I never pay attention to them at the Awards shows…I can’t even remember if they announce them during the live broadcast. If they do, I’m usually taking a pee break or grabbing my next glass of wine. Anyways, a short film is defined as an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits. It’s just not long enough to be a feature film. There are two categories: Animated and Live-Action. (Note: there are also documentary short films too but this entry is not covering them).

THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT: Now you can be FULLY informed! Starting today, if you have digital cable, you will be able to view the nominated short films before the #Oscars!! If you have Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks or Cox, they will carry the shorts under their “Awards Season” category while Comcast will have the shorts under its “Oscar Nominees” category. You can also look them up on iTunes and purchase them individually, if that floats your boat.

And, in case you were wondering, this year’s Short Film nominees are:

Short Film (Animated)

“Day & Night” Teddy Newton
“The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
“Let’s Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
“The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann

“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois***

Short Film (Live Action)

“The Confession” Tanel Toom
“The Crush” Michael Creagh
“God of Love” Luke Matheny
“Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
“Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite***

***I was able to locate two shorts online (which I think are legitimate)– one from each category – for your viewing pleasure. You can probably find some bootleg versions (if you dig deep enough, but I’m more in favor of supporting the artists & not stealing their creativity …but that’s an entirely different post). Clips from the others are available on the Oscars website too.

Check ‘em out … (unfortunately we can’t embed them … stupid vimeo plus, but click the links to enjoy!)