SHORT #5
OF 15
95TH ACADEMY AWARDS | 2023 OSCARS CHALLENGE
“Le Pupille”
FEBRUARY 18, 2023
LAEMMLE NOHO 7
DAY 26
OF 48
Best Live Action Short Film
Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón
“Le Pupille” (or “The Pupils”) is a fun little Italian film about a Catholic orphanage filled with girls and run by nuns. Inspired by a letter written during Christmas, the film depicts a troubled wealthy woman offering an enormous cake in exchange for the children’s prayers—her wish for the man that stepped out on her for someone else to return.
The sweetest and most innocent orphan, Serafina (Melissa Falasconi), is subject to the harshest criticism. When the girls stumble upon a radio station playing music, they all dance, all except Serafina. When they’re caught and have their mouths washed out with soap, she’s the one that the head nun, Fioralba (Alba Rohrwacher), targets as the worst culprit. Rohrwacher and Falasconi are the highlights of this adorable film, filled with lighthearted situations of kids being brighter than grown-ups.
PREVIOUS NOMINATIONS
Alice Rohrwacher
| First-time nominee |
Alfonso Cuarón
| 91st Academy Awards (2018) | Best Picture | “Roma” | Nominee |
| Best Directing | “Roma” | WINNER | |
| Best Original Screenplay | “Roma” | Nominee | |
| Best Cinematography | “Roma” | WINNER | |
| 86th Academy Awards (2013) | Best Picture | “Gravity” | Nominee |
| Best Directing | “Gravity” | WINNER | |
| Best Film Editing | “Gravity” | WINNER | |
| 79th Academy Awards (2006) | Best Film Editing | “Children Of Men” | Nominee |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | “Children Of Men” | Nominee | |
| 75th Academy Awards (2002) | Best Original Screenplay | “Y Tu Mamá También” | Nominee |
A story about pure and selfish desires, freedom and devotion, and the anarchy that is capable of flowering in the minds of girls within the confines of a strict religious boarding school at Christmas.
Directed by Alice Rohrwacher
Disney+
May 27, 2022
37 minutes
ACCOLADES
Philadelphia Film Festival — Best Short Film (Nominee)
EXPERT PREDICTIONS
1. “Le Pupille”
2. “An Irish Goodbye”
3. “The Red Suitcase”
4. “Night Ride”
5. “Ivalu”
PERSONAL PREDICTIONS
1. “Ivalu”
2. “The Red Suitcase”
3. “Le Pupille”
4. “An Irish Goodbye”
5. “Night Ride”
