Sunday Short(s): A few films that we might see on the finalist list

by Nathaniel R

We've been meaning to launch a small but sweet "short" series for a long time. But alas, despite the tiny nature of the beast, we haven't. On December 21st, we'll hear which 30 eligible shorts Oscar voters favor across the Documentary, Animated and Live-Action flavors and we'll have a good excuse to dig in a bit more. With all golden categories back on the broadcast for the 95th Oscars (yay!) we should highlight the three miniature categories in someway!

Sadly, the Academy has gotten less transparent over the past handful of years. They no longer release their eligibility lists in the shorts categories. We are sometimes able to get approximations of the lists from various sources but it's not the same thing as having an "official" list. Nevertheless we believe the following five shorts are eligible and we've seen them so let's briefly discuss...

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EFA Nominations: Comedy, Short, Animated Feature

by Nathaniel R

LITTLE NICHOLAS - HAPPY AS CAN BE (France/Luxembourg)

The European Film Awards announce in lots of small increments for reasons that have never been entirely clear to us. But here we are. So it is today that we learned that Italian Director Marco Bellochio has won Innovation in Storytelling for his miniseries Exterior Night (a follow up to his 2003 feature Goodmorning Night) and full nominations for three categories have been announced including Animated Feature (now updated with winners as of 12/12)...

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The hot mess of the 'Don't Worry Darling' press tour and other stories...

• Vanity Fair Alfre Woodard takes the Proust Questionnaire
• LA Times on the incredible writing of Manuel Muñoz. If the name sounds familiar that's because you either have very good taste in writers (seriously his work is brilliant) or you've been reading TFE for awhile. Manuel has been on the Smackdown a couple of times and we've also discussed his Psycho-related novel "What You See in the Dark"
• Out After lots of rumors about Kat's diminished role on Euphoria in season 2 and offscreen disputes, actress Barbie Ferraira will not be returning for season 3

That crazy Don't Worry Darling press tour, some Oscar hopefuls in animated short, Elton John twice, Lt Uhura's ashes, and more after the jump...

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Review: The 2022 Oscar Nominated Short Films

By: Christopher James

Yes, we agree that this should be known as the 2021 Oscars (film year). However, Shorts TV has a different stance on their naming convention.Anyone who has filled out an Oscar office pool knows that the shorts can make or break your chances at winning. Often, the short films nominated are little seen, unless they play before a Pixar film. Thanks to Shorts TV, the nominees for Documentary (Short Subject), Animated Short Film and Live Action Short Film play in theaters and are available for rental ahead of the Oscars. Watching the short film can not only help you win your Oscar pool, but it can also introduce you to new and exciting filmmakers.

This year’s nominees break some conventions, while also keeping to some of the tropes one expects. The live action short films, once again, are aggressively depressing. Meanwhile, the animated short films are decidedly not kid friendly (adhere to the warning label, most of the shorts are firmly R-rated). Still, the fifteen nominated films were on the whole enjoyable.

So what were the best shorts of the bunch? Which will win the Oscar? Read to find out...

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Winners of the 4th annual Meihodo Festival

by Nathaniel R

You may recall that in January we shared the news that Michael Douglas was the guest of honor at this year's "Meihodo International Youth Visual Media Festival". (That's quite a mouthful of a title to try to say. Perhaps they need an acronym or nickname?) But their core team this year actually had three Oscar winners on it, Douglas, Binoche, and composer Tan Dun. This year the festivalhad 2431 contestants from 110 countries. The winners (which were unfortunately awarded in crypto and NFTs -- agh stop the madness) are after the jump...

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