Check back over the course of the night to see who and what won in each category. Where applicable, green text denotes links to full reviews of the films. Bold denotes the winner in the category.
Category Archives: 2017 Academy Awards
4.1 Miles (2016) Short Film Review
Over recent years, a massive influx of refugees trying to cross the water boundary between Turkey and Greece has caused chaos for the Coast Guard. They pull in hundreds of people per day. But they cannot possibly take everyone.
Life on these waters are depicted as harrowing. People are separated from their families. People slip into the water and drown. And all the while the Coast Guard Continue reading 4.1 Miles (2016) Short Film Review
The White Helmets (2016) Short Film Review
In Aleppo, Syria, air strikes are a daily occurrence. The city relies on a volunteer group called the White Helmets who act as first responders on the ground after these attacks.
The Netflix original documentary short film The White Helmets follows members of this organization. Through a mix of Continue reading The White Helmets (2016) Short Film Review
Academy Awards Predictions 2017 – Best Documentary Short Film
Ah, the plight of the documentary short subject! One theater in my state decided to air these five nominees, and they only chose one showtime: 11:15 am on Saturday and Sunday.
Let’s just say I couldn’t make it.
Luckily a few of these films are available on online platforms. Extremis and The White Helmets are available on Netflix. Joe’s Violin is available through the New Yorker here. With a handful of the five under my belt, let’s try and figure this category out.
Best Documentary Short Film:
Continue reading Academy Awards Predictions 2017 – Best Documentary Short Film
Extremis (2016) Short Film Review
Extremis, a documentary short film from Netflix, is the story of a hospital ICU. As much as the film paces and moves like a medical drama, it is distinctly and heart-wrenchingly real.
The film opens on a patient, breathing tube affixed, trying desperately just to communicate. The patient can’t write, nor make discernible letters in the air, and can barely point at letters on a sheet of paper. All the while the doctor is trying Continue reading Extremis (2016) Short Film Review
Joe’s Violin (2016) Short Film Review
“How long can you live with memories?”
This is one of the first lines of Joe’s Violin, coming from the eponymous Joseph Feingold. It is an expression of his carefree attitude about donating one of his most prized possessions: a violin. What Joe’s Violin aims to do, however, is supplant that throwaway notion with the creation of new memories.
Joe’s story is one of Holocaust tragedy. At the age of 17, in eastern Poland, Feingold was taken by the Russians and put into a Siberian labor camp. Of the few things he had after his time in the camp his violin becomes, in retrospect, a Continue reading Joe’s Violin (2016) Short Film Review
2017 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts Breakdown Review
The Academy Awards are this Sunday, and as such it is fitting to take a look at one of the more overlooked categories: Best Animated Short Film. While the favorite to win is clearly Piper, although the short film categories always have a chance to hold an upset, it still is warranted to put a spotlight on all five films.
Borrowed Time
Borrowed Time is perhaps the Continue reading 2017 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts Breakdown Review
Ennemis Interieurs (2016) Short Film Review
An Algerian-born man (Hassam Ghancy) applies for French citizenship. At least, that’s what he thinks he’s there for. Instead, he becomes party to prejudiced politics and interrogation.
Ennemis Interieurs is a series of elongated conversation scenes between the man and the government official (Najib Oudghiri). They are scenes largely told in Continue reading Ennemis Interieurs (2016) Short Film Review
Can Lion Win the Oscar for Best Cinematography?
The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) had their annual awards ceremony was held this past Sunday, and Garth Davis’ Lion surprised by winning the feature film award. The film beat out awards season heavy-hitter La La Land, as well as the other fantastically shot films Arrival, Silence, and Moonlight.
In an awards season made boring by La La Land sweeping up wins wherever and whenever possible, this might be the first Continue reading Can Lion Win the Oscar for Best Cinematography?
Academy Awards Predictions 2017 – Best Live Action Short Film
Alas, the Academy-nominated short films have not made their way to screens in my area yet. I have had the privilege of seeing and reviewing two of these Oscar short films, but of course this is not enough to give a full-fledged summary of the field as a whole.
Keep this in my mind as I do my best to traverse this category half-blind.
Update: I saw them…let’s do this.
Best Live Action Short Film:
Continue reading Academy Awards Predictions 2017 – Best Live Action Short Film
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