Documentary SHORT Film
Nominees:
“Chasing Roo”
“Death by Numbers”
“Eternal Father”
“I Am Ready, Warden”
“Incident”
“Instruments of a Beating Heart”
“Keeper”
“Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World”
“Once upon a Time in Ukraine”
“The Only Girl in the Orchestra”
“Planetwalker”
“The Quilters”
“Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr”
“A Swim Lesson”
“Until He’s Back”
Per the Academy’s press release:
Fifteen films will advance in the Documentary Short Film category for the 97th Academy Awards. One hundred four films qualified in the category. Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.
Nominations voting begins on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, and concludes on Sunday, January 12, 2025. Nominations for the 97th Academy Awards will be announced on Friday, January 17, 2025. The 97th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC, streamed live on Hulu and airs live in more than 200 territories worldwide.
OSCAR NOMINATION PREDICTIONS
“I AM READY, WARDEN” • MTV Documentary Films
Smriti Mundhra | Director
“Instruments of a Beating Heart” • The New York Times
Ema Ryan Yamazaki | Director
“MAKAYLA’S VOICE: A LETTER TO THE WORLD” • Netflix
Julio Palacio | Director
“Once upon a Time in Ukraine” • Comscore
Betsy West & Khodakivska Tetiana | Directors
“A SWIM LESSON” • PBS + Los Angeles Times
Eric Nyari, Hanna Aqvilin, Shiori Ito | Director
WHY I CHOSE THOSE FIVE?
Mostly, these are guesses because I haven’t seen any of these short documentaries. Going off of precursors and what I could see the Academy gravitating toward, I chose five. “I Am Ready, Warden” and “Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World” feel like the front-runners because of their unique subject matter. “Warden” follows an inmate on death row who attempts to reach out to his victim’s family as he comes to terms with his eventual execution. “Makayla’s Voice” follows a young teen with autism who uses a letter board to share her voice for the first time. Both received nominations from the Cinema Eye Honors and Critics Choice Documentary Awards, with “Makayla” winning at almost all the festivals it appeared at.
“Instruments of a Beating Heart” won at the International Documentary Association Awards and was edited by the same person who edited “Black Box Diaries.” It follows first graders in Tokyo learning to play in an elementary school band. With the war in Ukraine remaining one of the most talked about subjects in current politics, even though “Once Upon A Time In Ukraine” hasn’t won any precursors, it feels as likely a pick as any. “A Swim Lesson” is a PBS short nominated for the Cinema Eye Honors, following a children’s swim instructor named Bill Marsh. If asked to pick some alternatives, “Eternal Father” was originally on my final list, but I removed it because it failed to garner any substantial precursors. However, the subject of an older man deciding to get cryonically frozen after death so he can reunite with his young children later in life feels like something that would get highlighted. Also, if I gave a pick to the short that grabs my attention the most, it would be “Incident,” which has several relevant precursors and uses surveillance and other cameras to chronicle a 2018 Chicago police shooting.
“Chasing Roo”
October 14, 2024 | Spin Film | 35 min | English
Skye Fitzgerald, Sheila Nevins
Synopsis: CHASING ROO is an intimate portrait of the Kangaroo harvesting industry from the POV of those who professionally hunt Kangaroos – in tension with wildlife rescue experts who have devoted their lives to saving the very animals being killed. Legally sanctioned harvesting of kangaroos in Australia equates to the largest commercial killing of a land-based animal in the world each year. Despite this, the practice is relatively unknown globally. For some in Australia the culling of its’ national symbol for meat and leather is an outrage. For others, it is a way of life that makes living economically viable in poverty-stricken, deeply rural communities of the outback.
“Death by Numbers”
October 5, 2024 | Cuomo Cole Productions | 33 min | English
Kim A. Snyder
Synopsis: Four years after being shot with an AR-15 in her high school, Samantha Fuentes reckons with existential questions of hatred and justice as she prepares to confront her shooter.
✰ Montclair Film Festival Winner
✰ Woodstock Film Festival Nominee
“Eternal Father”
November 19, 2024 | The New Yorker | 31 min | English
Ömer Sami
Synopsis: Having started a family later in life, Nasar fears he won’t live to see his children grow up and decides to be cryonically frozen after death, hoping to reunite in the future. His family face a dilemma: follow suit or risk being left behind? As their future concerns start to overshadow the present, Nasar is forced to confront his decision and rediscover what truly matters.
✰ Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival Winner
✰ Camerimage Nominee
✰ Danish Film Award Nominee
✰ St. Louis International Film Festival Nominee
“I Am Ready, Warden”
February 21, 2024 | MTV Documentary Films | 37 min | English
Smriti Mundhra
Synopsis: John Henry Ramirez is convicted of murder and sentenced to death in the state of Texas. During his incarceration, Ramirez tries to reach out to his victim’s son while also preparing to say goodbye to his family.
✰ Cinema Eye Honors Nonfiction Film Award Nominee
✰ Critics Choice Documentary Award Nominee
✰ BendFilm Festival Winner
“Incident”
April 16, 2024 | Hypnotic Pictures | 30 min | English
Bill Morrison
Synopsis: Incident 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.
✰ Cinema Eye Honors Nonfiction Film Award Nominee
✰ Critics Choice Documentary Award Nominee
✰ Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival Winner
✰ Florida Film Festival Winner
✰ Tehran International Short Film Festival Winner
✰ FOCAL International Award Winner
✰ Champs-Élysées Film Festival Winner
✰ Walla Walla Movie Crush Winner
✰ Salute Your Shorts Film Festival Winner
✰ Docudays UA Int’l Documentary Human Rights Film Festival Nominee
✰ DocsMX: Int’l Documentary Film Festival of Mexico City Nominee
✰ Dokufest Int’l Documentary & Short Film Festival Nominee
“Instruments of a Beating Heart”
June 14, 2024 | The New York Times | 23 min | Japanese
Ema Ryan Yamazaki
Synopsis: First graders in a Tokyo public elementary school are presented with a challenge for the final semester: performing “Ode to Joy” at the ceremony for the new incoming first graders. Ayame, who often struggles to keep up with the group, is determined to play a major part – the big drum.
✰ International Documentary Association (IDA) Award Winner
✰ St. Louis International Film Festival Nominee
“Keeper”
November 13, 2024 | — | 39 min | English
Hannah Rafkin
Synopsis: When Flynn, a single father in the Bronx, receives his cancer diagnosis, he must give up the one thing that brings him healing: beekeeping.
✰ Student Academy Award Gold Medalist
“Makayla’s Voice:
A Letter to the World”
January 20, 2024 | — | 23 min | English
Julio Palacio
Synopsis: A teen with autism unlocks a joyous world of self-expression as she shares her voice for the first time using a letter board in this short documentary.
✰ Cinema Eye Honors Nonfiction Film Award Nominee
✰ Critics Choice Documentary Award Nominee
✰ Tribeca Film Festival Winner
✰ Atlanta Film Festival Winner
✰ Slamdance Film Festival Winner
✰ Virginia Film Festival Winner
✰ Indy Shorts International Film Festival Winner
✰ Cordillera International Film Festival Winner
✰ Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Nominee
“Once upon a Time in Ukraine”
May 17, 2024 | Comscore | 32 min | Ukrainian with English Subtitles
Betsy West & Khodakivska Tetiana
Synopsis: As the Ukraine war moves into its third year, a surprising story of resilience: how children in Ukraine are surviving the Russian war machine that has targeted them and their families. With creativity and imagination they have transformed backyards and playgrounds destroyed by missiles, invented fairy tales where vegetable armies vanquish Russian attackers, and carried on the Ukrainian tradition of music and dance in bombed out studios. Life behind the frontlines as seen through the eyes of the children who will inherit a country struggling to survive a brutal invasion.
“The Only Girl in the Orchestra”
December 4, 2024 | Mobworks | 34 min | English
Molly O’Brien
Synopsis: This unsung hero story celebrates trailblazing musician, Orin O’Brien, and the double bass she plays.
✰ Critics Choice Documentary Award Winner
✰ Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival Winner
“Planetwalker”
December 2, 2024 | Los Angeles Times | 31 min | English
Dominic Gill & Nadia Gill
Synopsis: After witnessing the 1971 oil spill in San Francisco Bay, John Francis is determined to travel across America on foot—and in silence.
“The Quilters”
June 13, 2024 | — | 33 min | English
Jenifer McShane
Synopsis: Tasked with creating quilts for foster children in Missouri, the men in a maximum security facility stitch the dreams of future generations.
✰ BendFilm Festival Winner
✰ Santa Fe International Film Festival Winner
✰ Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival Winner
✰ Woodstock Film Festival Nominee
“Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr”
June 29, 2024 | The New Yorker | 15 min | English
Kimberly Reed
Synopsis: After Zooey Zephyr’s expulsion from the Montana House of Representatives for defending transgender medical care, she made a nearby bench her “office.” Director Kimberly Reed’s intimate camera transforms this shocking political moment into a portrait of trans and queer joy.
✰ Palm Springs International ShortFest Winner
✰ Frameline San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival Winner
✰ Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Nominee
“A Swim Lesson”
September 1, 2024 | PBS + Los Angeles Times | 21 min | English
Eric Nyari, Hanna Aqvilin, Shiori Ito
Synopsis: Watching a child learn how to swim is like witnessing a great opera. The maestro of this emotional orchestra is Bill Marsh. Swimming is the closest human beings will ever get to flying. And there is no greater joy (or fear) than watching your kid take the leap. Watching Bill teach kids how to swim is the parable we need, because inside his lessons are profound universal truths. An LA Times Co-Release.
✰ Cinema Eye Honors Nonfiction Film Award Nominee
✰ Hamptons International Film Festival Winner
✰ Calgary International Film Festival Winner
✰ BendFilm Festival Nominee
https://www.pbs.org/video/pov-shorts-until-hes-back-zhfsv1
“Until He’s Back”
February 21, 2024 | PBS | 39 min | Spanish, Arabic, French
Jacqueline Baylon
Synopsis: After learning that his son, Yahya, has died at sea trying to get to Spain, Ahmed Tchiche must find a way to bring his remains back to Morocco so he and his family can have a proper goodbye. A Spanish mortician, an NGO worker and an established Moroccan immigrant living in Spain all struggle to help Ahmed get his son’s body home.
✰ International Documentary Association (IDA) Award Nominee
✰ Hamptons International Film Festival Winner
✰ Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Winner
✰ San Francisco International Film Festival Nominee
✰ Dokufest International Documentary & Short Film Festival Nominee
✰ International Sound & Film Music Festival (ISFMF) Nominee
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