2026 Oscar Nominated Short Films - Live Action
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These Oscar-contending films from Israel, the UK, the US, and France explore the messy, beautiful, and often forbidden ways we seek connection.
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 the job he so desperately needs.
A Friend of Dorothy
Dir. Lee Knight
UK, 21min
Dorothy is a lonely widow whose body is failing but whose mind remains sharp as ever. When 17-year-old JJ accidentally kicks his football into her garden, an unlikely friendship blossoms.
Jane Austen’s Period Drama
Dirs. Steve Pinder & Julia Aks
US, 12min
In 1813 England, Essy Talbot’s long-awaited marriage proposal takes a messy turn when her period arrives at a very bad time.
The Singers
Dir. Sam A. Davis
US, 18min
The Singers is a film adaptation of a 19th-century short story written by Ivan Turgenev, in which downtrodden patrons in a lowly pub connect unexpectedly through an impromptu sing-off.
Two People Exchanging Saliva
Dirs. Natalie Musteata & Alexandre Singh
France, 36min
In a society where kissing is punishable by death and people pay for things by receiving slaps to the face, an unhappy woman shops compulsively in a department store and becomes entranced by one of the employees.