OSCAR SHORTS 2025

Don’t miss your chance to see all of the 2025 Oscar nominees for best Live Action, Documentary, and Animated short film on the big screen!

FEB 21 | FRI

ANIMATION: 5:00 p.m.
DOCUMENTARY: 7:00 p.m.

FEB 22 | SAT

LIVE ACTION: 12:00 p.m.
ANIMATION: 2:15 p.m.
DOCUMENTARY: 4:15 p.m.
LIVE ACTION: 7:30 p.m.

FEB 23 | SUN

ANIMATION: 12:00 p.m.
LIVE ACTION: 4:30 p.m.
DOCUMENTARY: 7:00 p.m.

FEB 24 | MON

DOCUMENTARY: 4:40 p.m.
ANIMATION: 7:45 p.m.

FEB 25 | TUE

LIVE ACTION: 5:00 p.m.
ANIMATION: 7:15 p.m.

FEB 26 | WED

LIVE ACTION: 5:00 p.m.
DOCUMENTARY: 7:15 p.m.

FEB 27 | THU

ANIMATION: 5:00 p.m.
LIVE ACTION: 7:00 p.m.

SYNOPSIS

For the 20th consecutive year, ShortsTV presents the Oscar-Nominated Short Films, opening on February 14th. With all three categories offered – Animated, Live Action and Documentary – this is your annual chance to predict the winners (and have the edge in your Oscar pool)! A perennial hit with audiences around the country and the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts. The Academy Awards take place Sunday, March 2nd.

Please note: The short films in this year’s program may not be appropriate for audiences under the age of 14 due to scenes of gun violence, shootings, language, and animated nudity. Viewer discretion is advised.

A FESTIVAL PASS, good for admission to all three programs, will be available at the Ross Box Office. PASS PRICES: $20 General Admission | $17 Students, Seniors, Military | $13 Friends of the Ross Members. 

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ANIMATED SHORTS

MAGIC CANDIES
Director: Daisuke Nishio / Japan / 21 Mins
The other kids at the park never ask Dong-Dong to play. But he’s fine just playing marbles on his own. One day he goes out in search of new marbles, but ends up buying a bag of colorful, marble-shaped candies instead. But the first time he pops one of them into his mouth, he’s astonished to hear his old sofa start talking to him! For the next few minutes, until the candy melts away, he has the most unexpected and amazing conversation of his life. Realizing that these are no ordinary candies, Dong-Dong looks at the rest of colorful sweets. Who else will he be able to talk to, and what else will he learn, through these magic candies?

IN THE SHADOW OF THE CYPRESS
Directors: Hossein Molayemi, Shirin Sohani / Iran / 20 Mins
Living in a house by the sea with his daughter, a former captain who has post-traumatic stress disorder leads a tough and secluded life.

YUCK!
Director: Loïc Espuche / France / 13 Mins
YUCK ! Adults kiss each other on the mouth, and children find it disgusting! What’s more, you can see it from afar: when people are about to kiss, their lips become all pink and shiny. Little Léo makes jokes about it, as do the other kids at the summer camp. But he has a secret he won’t tell his friends: his own mouth has actually begun glistening. And, in reality, Léo desperately wants to give kissing a try.

WANDER TO WONDER
Director: Nina Gantz Netherlands, Belgium, France, UK / 13 Mins
Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton are three tiny humans who star in a kids’ TV Series called WANDER TO WONDER. After the creator dies, they are left alone in the studio. Struggling to find enough to eat, they continue to make increasingly strange episodes for their fans.

BEAUTIFUL MEN
Director: Nicolas Keppens / Belgium, France, The Netherlands / 18 Min
Three balding brothers travel to Istanbul to get a hair transplant. Stuck with each other in a hotel far from home, their insecurities grow faster than their hair.

LIVE ACTION SHORTS

THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT REMAIN SILENT
Director: Nebojša Slijepčević / Croatia, Bulgaria, France, Slovenia / 13 Min
In the middle of winter, a passenger train is stopped by paramilitary forces. As they arrest innocent civilians, only one man out of 500 dares to stand up to them. This is the true story of a man who could not remain silent.

ANUJA
Director: Adam J. Graves / India, USA / 22 Mins
ANUJA tells the story of a gifted nine-year-old girl who, alongside her sister Palak, faces a life-changing opportunity that tests their bond and mirrors the struggles of girls worldwide.

I AM NOT A ROBOT
Director: Victoria Warmerdam / Netherlands, Belgium / 22 Mins
After repeatedly failing CAPTCHA tests, music producer Lara becomes obsessed with a disturbing question: could she be a robot?

A LIEN
Directors: David Cutler-Kreutz, Sam Cutler-Kreutz / USA / 14 Mins
On the day of their green card interview, a young couple confronts a dangerous immigration process.

THE LAST RANGER
Director: Cindy Lee / South Africa / 28 Mins
When young Litha is introduced to the magic of a game reserve by the last remaining ranger, they are ambushed by poachers. In the ensuing battle to save the rhinos, Litha discovers a terrible secret.

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

INSTRUMENTS OF A BEATING HEART
Director: Ema Ryan Yamazaki / Japan / 23 Mins
A New York Times Op-Doc. First graders in a Tokyo public elementary school are presented with a challenge for the final semester: to form an orchestra and perform “Ode to Joy” at a school ceremony.

INCIDENT
Director: Bill Morrison / USA / 30 Mins
Through a montage of surveillance and police body-camera footage, a reconstruction of a deadly shooting by a Chicago police officer becomes an investigation into how a narrative begins to take shape in the aftermath.

I AM READY, WARDEN
Director: Smriti Mundhra / USA / 37 Mins
The latest documentary short film, from MTV Documentary Films, I AM READY, WARDEN, by acclaimed filmmaker Smriti Mundhra (INDIAN MATCHMAKING, ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN) tells the harrowing and emotionally charged story of John Henry Ramirez, a man convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Texas. Through his time on death row, the film offers a rare and intimate glimpse into his attempts to seek redemption and reconciliation. To gain access to the Texas prison system, Mundhra collaborated with journalist Keri Blakinger, whose New York Times Magazine article THE DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS PLAYERS OF DEATH ROW was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ORCHESTRA
Director: Molly O’Brien / USA / 35 Mins
Trailblazing double bassist Orin O’Brien was never one to seek the spotlight, but when Leonard Bernstein hired her in 1966 as the first female musician in the New York Philharmonic, she inevitably became the focus of media attention and, ultimately, one of the most renowned musicians of a generation.

DEATH BY NUMBERS
Director: Kim A. Snyder / USA / 33 Mins
DEATH BY NUMBERS turns an intimate lens on school shooting survivor Sam Fuentes’s journey to reclaim her power, processing trauma through journaling. To prepare for a confrontation with her assailant in his harrowing sentencing trial, she examines complex questions of collective hatred and justice.