BEST LIVE ACTION SHORTS
Personally, “Nefta Football Club” was my favorite short of the Oscars, just because it went places that I didn’t expect it to go and it was very humorous for what it was. The front-runner is “The Neighbors’ Window,” which I found to be a little too creepy for my liking. I get what it was going for, but people watching each other through windows, especially when kids are involved, is not as innocent as they were trying to make it. “Brotherhood” and “Saria” were both very well made shorts, but “Nefta” and “Window” just happen to be a little more accessible.
BROTHERHOod
Meryam Joobeur | Maria Gracia Turgeon
Mohamed is deeply shaken and suspicious when his estranged eldest son Malek returns home to rural Tunisia with a mysterious young wife in tow. The emotional complexities of a family reunion and past wounds lead to tragic consequences.
POSSIBLE
Meryam Joobeur
| NONE |
Maria Gracia Turgeon
| 2018 (91st) | Best Live Action Short | “Fauve” | NOMINEE |
COUNTRY: Tunisia
LENGTH: 25 min
VIEWED ON: February 4, 2020
NEFTA FOOTBALL CLUB
Yves Piat | Damien Megherbi
In south Tunisia, two football fan brothers bump into a headphones-wearing donkey in the desert on the border of Algeria. Unaware that two men are waiting for the donkey and its hidden drug stash, the brothers take the animal back home with them.
POSSIBLE
Yves Piat | Damien Megherbi
| NONE |
COUNTRY: Tunisia
LENGTH: 17 min
VIEWED ON: February 4, 2020
THE NEIGHBORS’ WINDOW
Marshall Curry
The life of a middle-aged woman with small children is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street.
FRONT-RUNNER
Marshall Curry
| 2005 (78th) | Best Documentary Feature | “Street Fight” | NOMINEE |
| 2011 (84th) | Best Documentary Feature | “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” | NOMINEE |
| 2018 (91st) | Best Documentary Short | “A Night At The Garden” | NOMINEE |
COUNTRY: USA
LENGTH: 21 min
VIEWED ON: February 4, 2020
saria
Bryan Buckley | Matt Lefebvre
Inseparable orphaned sisters Saria and Ximena are fighting against daily abuse and unimaginable hardship at the Virgen de La Asuncion Safe Home in Guatemala when a tragic fire claims the lives of 41 orphaned girls.
POSSIBLE
Bryan Buckley
| 2012 (85th) | Best Live Action Short | “Asad” | NOMINEE |
Matt Lefebvre
| NONE |
COUNTRY: USA
LENGTH: 22 min
VIEWED ON: February 5, 2020
a sister
Delphine Girard
An emergency services dispatcher must tap into all her professional skills when she receives a call from a woman in a desperate situation.
UNLIKELY
Delphine Girard
| NONE |
COUNTRY: Belgium
LENGTH: 17 min
VIEWED ON: February 8, 2020
