It’s about that time again. The 98th Academy Awards are scheduled on March 15, which probably feels like there is not enough time to harness sentimental value for each and every nominated film. It might be prudent to get cracking on this year’s nominations for the short film categories, which include animated, live action, and documentary. The Coolidge Corner Theatre is now playing the nominated short films in their designated categories and Taika Waititi’s name plastered over for some reason. Watching movies is fun, but betting on winners during awards season is another kind of manic pleasure that usually ends in disappointment. Know-it-alls who may have counted Train Dreams out of recognition can re-experience the immersive experience of getting wrecked again (intelligently and emotionally). Let’s get on it and argue! 

INTRODUCTION

Okay, here’s how it goes: when given a screener, I watch Animated, Live Action, and Documentary, in that order. While I anticipate animation as an easy pill to swallow (even though it’s mostly not), I imagine that there will be submissions in the documentary field that will leave me hollowed out. It’s not a pretty world out there, and the documentaries intend to shed light on this world, not hide in darkness.

Because this is the last category, I’d like to note some things that might have come across readers. Most of the nominations across the three categories are from the US, which is pretty common (animation tends to have more international representation, but all categories have seen their share of countries over the years). Israel also has a spot in all three categories, though it requires more reading than what it seems at face value. Children No More and Butcher’s Stain reflect upon the dehumanizing of the Palestinian people through the war (it’s also of note that The Sea, Israel’s submission for Best International, which was not shortlisted, was about a Palestinian boy trying to get to the Mediterranean Sea). While I don’t feel that the quality this year has been compromised by any obvious objective, I wonder if there had been hesitations from other countries to participate in a ceremony at a country run by xenophobic buffoons. I also have poked fun at Waititi’s “role” in the programming, since he’s not personally selecting the nominations (imagine that!). But in watching this year’s programming for this category, I’m struck that there is a universal thread about taking a picture or video of someone to show that you care — and then there’s the short about donkeys. Let’s take a look at this year’s nominations for Best Documentary Short Film.

CONTENDERS (LISTED IN PROGRAMMING SEQUENCE)

1. PERFECTLY A STRANGENESS (dir. Alison McAlpine | Canada, 15 mins | trailer) – Three donkeys traverse the empty desert and stumble upon an abandoned observatory.
2. THE DEVIL IS BUSY (dir. Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir | United States, 31 mins | trailer) – The documentary captures the day in the life of Tracii, a devoted employee at an abortion clinic in Atlanta, following the “heartbeat” bill.
3. ALL THE EMPTY ROOMS (dir. Joshua Seftel | United States, 33 mins | trailer) – News correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp share the process of their years-long project in capturing the empty rooms of children who were killed in school shootings.
4. ARMED ONLY WITH A CAMERA: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF BRENT RENAUD (dir. Craig & Brent Renaud | United States, 38 mins | trailer) – After being killed at the onset of the Russian-Ukranian war, the life of Brent Renaud is revisited by those who have been filmed by him.
5. CHILDREN NO MORE: “WERE AND ARE GONE” (dir. Hilla Medalia | Israel, 36 mins | trailer) – Israeli protestors silently gather to show the faces of the murdered children in Gaza.

THOUGHTS

The tone of the program is set by The Devil is Busy, which starts and ends with Tracii, a security detail who coordinates the safety of the patients entering and leaving a women’s health clinic in Atlanta. It’s clear that Tracii is that person that you trust your life with, and she does not take that for granted. After a busy day of escorting patients in while cloaking their identities from the anti-abortion protesters, Tracii shares a personal part of her life at the end: she sometimes thinks she was punished for the abortion that she had when she was younger by not being able to conceive in the future. I know that cognitive reasoning and empathy should be a basic part of people’s lives, but I’m enamored with Tracii’s dedication to healthcare access and to let women know that she cares for them the way she was cared for.

Photojournalism is more than the pictures than accompany the story, and both Brent Renaud and Steve Hartmann know this in their careers. Before his tragic death in Ukraine, Renaud and his brother Craig went to different parts of the world — Somalia, Mexico, Afghanistan — to capture the innocent bystanders impacted by violence and turmoil. But it’s not just the loudness of war that directs his camera. Renaud’s featured footage captures the funeral proceedings of a fallen soldier and a Detroit man who’s determined to keep young boys off the streets. This, coupled with Joshua Seftel’s All the Empty Rooms (a years-long project between veteran news correspondent Steve Hartmann and photographer Lou Bopp to take pictures of rooms left by children who were killed in school shootings), makes it all the more harrowing when we think that seeing should be enough. There is one scene in which a man with severe burns talks directly to an off-screen Renaud and says, “You and I could change the world.” Unfortunately, that was probably filmed about a decade ago.

It does not get easier with Children No More, a documentary about Israeli protesters silently gathering in public spaces with pictures of Palestinian children who have been killed in Gaza. The documentary briefly shows the logistics of the gatherings, in which the protestors do not engage with pedestrians’ vitriol and banter. “You come with facts, but you are detached from reality,” one Israeli man yells. None of the protesters answer. It’s a smart sort of performance: if the sight of dead children angers you, then you might be detached from something.

Perfectly a Strangeness is the program’s outlier, and a hilarious one at that. Instill space-curiosity into a traveling group of donkeys, who find an observatory in the middle of the wastelands and watch their asinine minds get blown. It’s the opening film that seems to be placed so that it doesn’t disrupt the rest of the vibe, but I sure love the surprise speculative documentary with subterranean reality.

PREDICTIONS

WHAT SHOULD WIN: Any of them, honestly
WHAT WILL WIN: All the Empty Rooms or Armed with a Camera