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.

Momo

Momo is a young orphan girl who lives in the ruins of an old Roman amphitheater and becomes friends with everybody in the neighborhood. But when a powerful international corporation starts stealing everybody’s time, nobody has any time left for her, let alone their friends or families. Momo, together with Master Hora, the custodian of time, are the only ones who can go up against the time thieves before all is lost forever.

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.

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.

Smart Card

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.

Oblio

Heavenly Vessel

The uneasy stasis of a space-dwelling Monarchy is shaken by the arrival of a hypnotic, luminous dwarf planet. Caught between the authoritarian Duke and the impulsive Prince, all will come to light.

The Great Metaphor

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

Zardoz

In the far future, a savage trained only to kill finds a way into the community of bored immortals that alone preserves humanity's achievements.

The World, the Flesh and the Devil

Ralph Burton is a miner who is trapped for several days as a result of a cave-in. When he finally manages to dig himself out, he realizes that all of mankind seems to have been destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. He travels to New York City only to find it deserted. Making a life for himself there, he is flabbergasted to eventually find Sarah Crandall, who also managed to survive. Together, they form a close friendship until the arrival of Benson Thacker who has managed to pilot his small boat into the city's harbor. At this point, tensions rise between the three, particularly between Thacker, who is white, and Burton, who is black.

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.

Impostor

A top-secret government weapons designer is arrested by a clandestine government organization on suspicion of being a clone created by the hostile alien race wanting to take over Earth.

THX 1138

People in the future live in a totalitarian society. A technician named THX 1138 lives a mundane life between work and taking a controlled consumption of drugs that the government uses to make puppets out of people. As THX is without drugs for the first time he has feelings for a woman and they start a secret relationship.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Winston Smith is a government employee whose job involves the rewriting of history in a manner that casts his fictional country's leaders in a charitable light. His trysts with Julia provide his only measure of enjoyment, but lawmakers frown on the relationship -- and in this closely monitored society, there is no escape from Big Brother.

1984

In a totalitarian future society, a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.

The Running Man

By 2017, the global economy has collapsed and U.S. society has become a totalitarian police state, censoring all cultural activity. The government pacifies the populace by broadcasting a number of game shows in which convicted criminals fight for their lives, including the gladiator-style The Running Man, hosted by the ruthless Damon Killian, where “runners” attempt to evade “stalkers” and certain death for a chance to be pardoned and set free.

Equilibrium

In a dystopian future, a totalitarian regime maintains peace by subduing the populace with a drug, and displays of emotion are punishable by death. A man in charge of enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system.

V for Vendetta

In a world in which Great Britain has become a fascist state, a masked vigilante known only as “V” conducts guerrilla warfare against the oppressive British government. When V rescues a young woman from the secret police, he finds in her an ally with whom he can continue his fight to free the people of Britain.

2073

Inspired by Chris Marker's iconic 1962 featurette La Jetée; the year is 2073—a not-so-distant dystopian future—and the setting is New San Francisco, the scorched-earth tech-dominant police state where democracy and personal freedom have been well and truly obliterated.

Metropia

In the near future, oil reserves are nearly depleted and Europe is connected by series of underground tunnels. While navigating these tunnels, Roger hears voices, one in particular. Seeking a way to rid himself of the voice only leads Roger deeper into a bizarre conspiracy of control - mind and body.

A Scanner Darkly

An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.

Demolition Man

In 1996, brash L.A. detective John Spartan and maniac killer Simon Phoenix are both sentenced to decades in a cryogenic prison as punishment for a rescue mission gone wrong. When Phoenix escapes 36 years later to wreak havoc on the future, Spartan is awakened to capture his nemesis the old-fashioned way.

Dark City

A man struggles with memories of his past, including a wife he cannot remember, in a nightmarish world with no sun and run by beings with telekinetic powers who seek the souls of humans.

The Zero Theorem

A computer hacker's goal to discover the reason for human existence continually finds his work interrupted thanks to the Management; this time, they send a teenager and lusty love interest to distract him.

2036: Nexus Dawn

This in-world short film takes place in the year 2036 and revolves around Jared Leto’s character, Niander Wallace. In this short, Wallace introduces a new line of “perfected” replicants called the Nexus 9, seeking to get the prohibition on replicants repealed. This no doubt has serious ramifications that will be crucial to the plot of Blade Runner 2049.

The Giver

In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.

Looper

In the year 2044, time travel has not yet been invented but in 30 years it will have been. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target into the past where a looper, a hired gun, like Joe is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good until the day the mob decides to close the loop, sending back Joe's future self for assassination.

The Handmaid's Tale

In a dystopian, polluted right-wing religious tyranny, a young woman is put in sexual slavery on account of her now rare fertility.

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.

Light of My Life

Parent and child journey through the outskirts of society a decade after a pandemic has wiped out half the world's population. As a father struggles to protect his child, their bond—and the character of humanity—is tested.

Chappie

Every child comes into the world full of promise, and none more so than Chappie: he is gifted, special, a prodigy. Like any child, Chappie will come under the influence of his surroundings—some good, some bad—and he will rely on his heart and soul to find his way in the world and become his own man. But there's one thing that makes Chappie different from any one else: he is a robot.

Man with No Past

Waking up in an unfamiliar city, a man with no memory must confront the mysteries of his own identity. However, his desperate search to uncover the past pits him against a powerful enemy, leading to a showdown that ultimately reveals the truth.