2026 Oscar Shorts: Documentary

For the 21st consecutive year, ShortsTV presents the Oscar-Nominated 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 2026.

2026 Oscar Shorts: Documentary
Perfectly a Strangeness, The Devil is Busy, Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, All the Empty Rooms, Children No More: "Were and Are Gone"

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.