2017 Oscar Nominated Short Films - Live Action

The 2017 OSCAR® nominated short films, live action: Midenki (Sing), Silent Nights, Timecode, Ennemis Interieurs (Enemies Within), La Femme et le TGV (The Woman and the TGV).

Smoker of the Future

This anti-smoking public information film has the kind of stylistic sheen often associated with 1980s British advertising, with its sci-fi setting, filtered smoke and gloomy aesthetics clearly inspired by the works of Ridley Scott (although it’s directed by his contemporary, Barry Myers). It imagines a genetically advanced future humanoid who’s evolved to be a ‘natural born smoker’ – complete with enlarged nostrils and tapping finger - before reminding us that no such creature yet exists. While we expect smoking adverts to be disturbing, the titular character is disquieting in a refreshingly unusual sense.

Faint Traces

In Paris, Lola, a carefree artist, and Emma, a guarded runaway share a life of art, stolen thrills, and quiet intimacy. When Emma leads Lola into what seems like just another heist, the night unravels into a confrontation with Emma's past. What was meant to be a game forces them to test the unspoken bond that holds them together.

Nobody, Not Even the Mist

A woman finds old video tapes with memories of a trip taken by her late mother, Silvia. Moved by what she sees, she embarks on the same journey to the same place, falling asleep on the way.

Tarantella

"Tarantella" was an early Super 8 short film directed by Christopher Nolan with his childhood friend Roko Belic. It was made in 1989 while Nolan was studying at University College London. The film aired on "Image Union," a PBS programme in Chicago. It is about the suffering of a young man while he has nightmare about spiders and demons.

Rest Stop

John Dykstra – a writer who takes on the pseudonym of Rick Hardin – desperately pulls over to a seedy rest area in the middle of the desert. Little does he know... Dykstra has parked at the rest stop from hell.

The Decision

A film about the divorce decision and its impact on the children.

Contradictions

A transvestite is bedridden in a colorful room. A customer arrives, then a game of hide-and-seek, of pretense and confusion of feelings begins.

Linger

After months of ignoring her father's phone calls, a stubborn young addict is finally forced to make her way home.

Shocking Shorts 2003

Oblio

The Great Metaphor

What does a bankrupt poet with no desire to live have to say about life?

Monster

A mother battles with her son's fear of a monster lurking in the closet, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her.

Marbles

In a world where lives are measured by a jar of marbles and our days are literally numbered, Lisa is coming to terms with and preparing for her final days with her family. As she reminisces the time she’s had with her family, her daughter has yet to realize her mom will be gone soon until it’s almost too late.

Rest Stop

John Dykstra, a mystery novelist better known as Rick Hardin, stops at rest stop on his way home. When he hears a woman being abused in the bathroom, he's forced to decide who he really is and what he's willing to do.

Tussen Sana en Zee

Short film.

Little Lillith

A high ranking senior officer is debriefed on a top secret program.

Hiatus

In his classroom a philosophy teacher opens the discussion on the place of religion in society. Out of his course he faces the realities of the street.

The Graffiti of Mr. Tupaia

When a Cook Island school cleaner answers an unusual message on the wall of a girls' toilet cubicle, his life, and the life of the mysterious author, will never be the same again. Based on the Australian short story The Graffiti of Mr Kynyatta by Michael Griffith.

Two Friendly Ghosts

James Dean and Donald Turnupseed, the man whose car killed Dean, meet again for the first time... at the very same intersection where the accident occurred.

The Surrender

A fraught mother-daughter relationship is put to a terrifying test when the family patriarch dies, and the grieving mother hires a mysterious stranger to bring her husband back from the dead.

Rogue Agent

Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.

El Greco

The story of the uncompromising artist and fighter for freedom, Domenicos Theotokopoulos, known to the world as "El Greco".

Frank and Penelope

A tale of love and violence when a man on his emotional last legs finds a savior seductively dancing in a run-down strip club. And a life most certainly headed off a cliff suddenly becomes redirected - as everything is now worth dying for.

Hardball

An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.

The Truth About Emanuel

A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.

Curve

Clinging to a smooth, curved surface high above a sentient abyss, a woman tries to cover the few feet back to safety without losing purchase and falling to her death.

A Crooked Somebody

An attention-seeking psychic is kidnapped and tries to use the situation to boost his popularity.

DC Showcase - Constantine: The House of Mystery

John Constantine wakes up in the eerie House of Mystery with no recollection of how he got there. Fortunately, Zatanna and his friends are all there. Unfortunately, they have a bad habit of turning into demons and ripping him to shreds, over and over again!

Intruders

Anna suffers from agoraphobia so crippling that when a trio of criminals break into her house, she cannot bring herself to flee. But what the intruders don't realize is that agoraphobia is not her only psychosis.

Run

When a law student accidentally kills the son of a mob boss in a fight, he finds himself relentlessly pursued by the mob and the police.

Eradication

When an unknown disease wipes out most of the world’s population, a man with unique blood is isolated for study. Fearing for his wife’s safety, he breaks his quarantine – into a world overrun by monstrous Infected and a shadowy agency hunting them down.

Cigarettes & Coffee

At a desert diner, the lives of five strangers become linked through a single twenty-dollar bill. Shot for $20,000 and starring Philip Baker Hall, the short premiered at Sundance and later inspired Anderson’s debut feature Hard Eight (1996).

They Reach

In 1979, a young girl stumbles upon a possessed tape player. She unknowingly unleashes a demonic entity that haunts her family while slowly dragging the small town of Clarkston to Hell.

Doodlebug

There's something in his apartment. A man looking for an insect-like thing devolves into a bout of insanity as his subconscious mind begins to strangle his waking one.

The Hunt

Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don't know where they are—or how they got there. In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, ruthless elitists gather at a remote location to hunt humans for sport. But their master plan is about to be derailed when one of the hunted turns the tables on her pursuers.

Tyler Perry's Duplicity

High-powered attorney Marley faces her most personal case yet when she is tasked with uncovering the truth behind the murder of her best friend Fela’s husband. With the help of her boyfriend – a former cop turned private investigator – Marley’s search for what really happened leads her down a treacherous maze of deception and betrayal.

What Maisie Knew

In New York City, a young girl is caught in the middle of her parents' bitter custody battle.

The Good Neighbor

A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.

The Hummingbird Project

A pair of high-frequency traders go up against their old boss in an effort to make millions in a fiber-optic cable deal.