For the 21st consecutive year, ShortsTV presents the Oscar-Nominated Animated & Live Action Short Films, opening on Feb 20th. 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 15th.
Oscar Nominated Short Films 2026: Animated (NR, 85 min.)
Tickets and Showtimes coming soon. Some films in this program include some disturbing and mature content and may not be suitable for very young children.
Butterfly Dir. Florence Miailhe/France/15min. A poignant retelling of Olympic swimmer Alfred Nakache's life, from his rise to fame to surviving Auschwitz, presented as memories flashing back during his final swim.
Forevergreen Dirs. Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears/USA/13min A joyful adventure featuring an orphaned bear cub and a fatherly tree turns serious when the cub is tempted by the allure of easy food. Fire and deadly danger ensue as the cub is left bereft of hope and on the verge of a ruinous end, until the sacrificial love of the tree falls into place.
The Girl Who Cried Pearls Dirs. Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski/Canada/17min. A haunting fable about a girl overwhelmed by sorrow, the boy who loves her, and how greed leads good hearts to wicked deeds
Retirement Plan Dir. John Kelly/Ireland/7min. Retirement Plan tells the story of Ray (Domhnall Gleeson) as he fantasises about everything he’d love to do in retirement, once he finally has the “time. ”
The Three Sisters Dir. Konstantin Bronzit/Israel, Cyprus/14min. Three sisters live a lonely life on an isolated island, each in their own small house. One day, circumstances develop in such a way that they are forced to rent out one of the houses.
Oscar Nominated Short Films 2026: Live Action (NR, 118 min.)
Tickets and Showtimes coming soon Some films in this program contain adult language, adult themes and sensual images. Recommended for persons 17 and up.
Butcher’s Stain Dir. Meyer Levinson-Blount/Israel/26min. Samir, a Palestinian butcher working at an Israeli supermarket, is accused of tearing down the Israeli hostage posters in the break room. Samir sets out to prove his innocence in order to keep his job he desperately needs.
A Friend of Dorothy Dir. Lee Knight/United Kingdom/21min. Dorothy (BAFTA winner Miriam Margolyes) is a lonely widow whose body is failing, but her mind remains as bright as ever. When 17-year-old JJ (Alistair Nwachukwu) accidentally kicks his football into her garden, he upends Dorothy’s daily routine of pills, prunes and crosswords, and an unlikely friendship blossoms. Despite being worlds apart in every way, the two come to find they have more in common than they could ever imagine.
Jane Austen’s Period Drama Dirs. Steve Pinder and Julia Aks/USA/12min. England, 1813. Miss Estrogenia “Essy” Talbot gets her period during a long-awaited marriage proposal. Mr. Dickley mistakes the blood for an injury and rushes off to fetch a doctor. While he’s gone, Essy’s sisters plead with her not to imperil her engagement by telling Mr. Dickley the truth. But when he returns, Essy barrels ahead, sharing every little bloody detail.
The Singers Dir. Sam A. Davis/USA/18min The Singers is a short film adaptation of a 19th-century short story written by Ivan Turgenev, in which a lowly pub full of downtrodden patrons connect unexpectedly through an impromptu sing-off. With a cast comprised of viral video singing talents and other one-of-a-kind personalities from the unlikeliest corners of the internet, the film is an experimental docu-musical hybrid crafted like an improvisational play.
Two People Exchanging Saliva Dirs. Natalie Musteata and Alexandre Singh/France, USA/36min In a society where kissing is punishable by death, and people pay for things by receiving slaps to the face, Angine, an unhappy woman, shops compulsively in a department store. There, she becomes fascinated by a playful salesgirl. Despite the prohibition of kissing, the two become close, raising the suspicions of a jealous colleague.
Oscar Nominated Short Films 2026: Documentary (NR, TBD)
Tickets and Showtimes coming soon Some films in this program contain graphic war imagery, adult themes and language. Recommended for persons 17 and up. All the Empty Rooms Dir. Joshua Seftel/USA/33min. All the Empty Rooms follows veteran CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp as they embark on a seven-year-long project to document the empty bedrooms of children killed in school shootings. Hartman steps away from his heartwarming human interest stories and unbeknownst to his network’s bosses, pursues a piece on absence, memory, and the unseen ripples of America's gun violence epidemic. As these senseless incidents claim more young lives than any other cause in America, these quiet bedrooms reveal truths more powerful than statistics ever could.
Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud Dirs. Craig Renaud and Brent Renau/USA/38min. On March 13, 2022, filmmaker Brent Renaud was killed by Russian soldiers – the first American journalist to die while reporting on the war in Ukraine. His younger brother and collaborator, Craig Renaud, recovered Brent’s body and his final recordings from Ukraine and brought them back to their childhood home in Arkansas. As Brent’s journey to his final resting place unfolds, the film chronicles the years he and his brother spent covering some of the world’s most dangerous conflicts. As journalism becomes one of the most dangerous professions in the world, Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud is dedicated to Brent and all the devoted journalists who use their cameras to work for truth and understanding.
Children No More: "Were and Are Gone" Dir. Hilla Medalia/Israel/36min. Children No More: “Were and are Gone” is an observational documentary short about a vigil that began in March 2025, when a handful of women stood silently in a public square in Tel Aviv, each holding a photograph of a child killed in Gaza. On every image: the child’s name, age, date of death, and the words “WAS AND IS NO MORE. ” Their stillness is heavy, pressing against the rhythm of ordinary life. Some passersby look away; others respond with denial, sorrow, or rage. Yet week after week, new names are added, new photographs are printed and lifted high. And each week, more people step forward to join this quiet act of protest.
The Devil is Busy Dirs. Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir/USA/31min The Devil is Busy takes viewers on a daylong journey with Tracii, the determined head of security at a women’s healthcare clinic in Atlanta, Georgia as she works to ensure the safety of women seeking abortions in the face of new restrictions and persistent protests. The film is a clear-eyed portrayal of the shifting landscape for patients and abortion providers in America today, and depicts the complex, day-to-day realities facing those working to provide safe reproductive healthcare to women. The film captures a unique snapshot of reproductive healthcare in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a shift that has led to abortion bans and significant restrictions in many states.
Perfectly a Strangeness Dir. Alison McAlpine/Canada/15min. In the dazzling incandescence of an unknown desert, three donkeys discover an abandoned astronomical observatory and the universe. A sensorial, cinematic exploration of what a story can be.
