Short cuts: Catch all the Oscar-nominated short films in OKC

While it’s true that much of the awards season – and particularly much of the Oscars – amounts to a multi-million dollar pat on the back for some of the most successful films of the year, there are a few categories that rely on the awards to find their audience.

In particular, it’s the short-form categories (Live-Action Short Film, Animated Short Film, and Documentary: Short Subject) that tend to go largely unheard of by casual viewers until the big night, with the nominated shorts often gaining major steam after the Oscar Night telecast.

With only a few minutes with which to create a tone, a story, or a whole world, the filmmakers nominated in these categories showcase some of the most astute and finely honed talent of all the names that you’ll hear throughout the ceremony.

Lucky for us that, thanks to OKC’s intrepid art houses Rodeo Cinema and the Sam Noble Theater at Oklahoma City Museum of Art, we can catch all of these underseen contenders before most Academy Awards viewers ever hear about them.

Live-Action Short Film

One of the best elements of the short-form categories every year is the wide range of styles, moods, genres, and even nationalities among the nominees, and 2023’s selections are no different.

The live-action entries this year span Greenland, Norway, Ireland, Iran (by way of Luxembourg,) and even 1940’s Italy.

If you look for more straightforward, heartstring-tugging stories in your short film consumption, then you’ll be drawn to “An Irish Goodbye,” about a pair of brothers comically dealing with their mother’s death, and “Le Pupille,” following an orphaned Italian girl during WWII and her quest for a slice of cake.

Norway’s “Night Ride” has actually proven to be somewhat divisive, with its story focusing on the unexpected bond between a woman with dwarfism and a trans woman facing harassment on a late-night train ride.

Le Pupille
Le Pupille

“Ivalu,” from Danish filmmaker Anders Walter, is based on Morten Durr’s graphic novel and uses the vast, quiet Greenlandic landscape as a backdrop for a young girl’s search for her sister. With its focus on atmosphere and nature, this is possibly the most experimental of the live-action nominees, but has become a serious contender nonetheless.

If there is a frontrunner in the category, however, it’s “The Red Suitcase.”

An Iranian national living and working in Luxembourg, writer/director Cyrus Neshvad imbues his film with his own background, centering on a young Iranian girl inside the Luxembourg airport, seemingly terrified of her own red luggage.

In just 18 short minutes, “The Red Suitcase” produces the kind of tension and suspense that many blockbuster features often long to capture, setting this one up as a major favorite among critics and odds-makers.

With “Le Puppile backed by Disney and four-time Oscar winner Alfonso Cuaron, however, it could easily snag the trophy.

Animated Short Film

Unsurprisingly, the animated entries into the short-form category are loaded with quite a bit more unhinged imagination and whimsy, showcasing the practically limitless potential of animation to explore space, time, and even reality.

Showcasing a beautiful, watercolor-esque style, an all-star voice cast, and a persistent string of heartwarming platitudes, “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse” definitely covers the Oscars’ favorite ground of approachable emotionalism, but might just be too sentimental to win.

“Ice Merchants,” on the other hand, uses no words at all and a creatively sketchy style to weave a story of a father and son and their dangling, cliffside home.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse

The openly provocative “My Year of Dicks” weaves director Sara Gunnarsdóttir’s rotoscoped visuals into writer Pamela Ribon’s shockingly honest look at a young woman’s sexual coming-of-age, resulting in something much more sharp-edged than the usual Oscar fare.

“The Flying Sailor” uses the real-life Halifax Explosion of 1917 as a literal launching point for an examination of memory and an evaluation of life in the face of certain death.

But it’s the altogether different, fourth wall-demolishing “An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It,” that might be the most creative and daring in this category, calling all of reality into question with a stop-motion existential crisis.

It’s difficult to pinpoint a frontrunner here, but Apple have put their efforts firmly behind “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse,” a move that worked out well for them just last year when “CODA” secured the Best Picture win.

Documentary: Short Subject

Perhaps more than any other category at the Academy Awards, a win for Documentary: Short Subject can propel a generally unknown filmmaker to unexpected heights in their field overnight.

It seems like ever since “The Cove” made waves and struck gold in 2010, there’s been an animal documentary included in the nominees.

For 2023, that’s “The Elephant Whisperers,” following a South Indian couple that raise an orphaned baby elephant , and the bond that they and their culture share with the natural world.

“How Do You Measure a Year?” sees filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt chronicling the growth of his daughter Ella over 16 full years in an entry that’s powerful in its concept, but also possibly played out after “Boyhood” and any number of similar social media montages.

The Elephant Whisperers
The Elephant Whisperers

The remaining three contenders are all vying for frontrunner status.

“The Martha Mitchell Effect” uses archival footage to reconsider the life of Mitchell (wife of Nixon Administration Attorney General John Mitchell) who was dismissed and slandered by the administration for her outspoken criticism of government corruption. The film currently boasts a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Stranger at the Gate” has received major buzz from some critics for its recounting of former Marine Richard McKinney, who planned a potentially devastating terrorist act against Muslims in Indiana before a fateful experience and a change of heart.

“Haulout” combines a sad, timely look at the effects of catastrophic climate change with a genuinely staggering visual as filmmakers document the thousands-strong “congregation” of walruses in the Russian Arctic, caused by warming sea temperatures destroying the sea ice they normally call home.

With these three wildly different entries all fighting for the gold, this is bound to be one of the night’s most exciting categories.

Where to see these shorts

Oscar-nominated Live-Action Short Films:

OKCMOA: February 25th  through March 11th

Rodeo Cinema Stockyards: March 3rd

Oscar-nominated Animated Short Films:

OKCMOA: February 24th through March 11th

Rodeo Cinema Stockyards: February 24th

Oscar-nominated Documentary Shorts:

OKCMOA: February 24th, March 5th, & March 11th

Rodeo Cinema Stockyards: February 22nd

For showtimes, tickets, and more information, visit okcmoa.com and rodeocinema.org.


Author Profile

Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.