In our announcement Tuesday I mentioned my skepticism in finding any of the Short Film Oscar nominees online, but you, our readers, did not share my defeatist attitude and unearthed a couple! Thanks go out to Hans and Sam, now you can watch one film from each of the 3 short film categories: Documentary Short Subject, Short Film (Live-Action) and Short Film (Animation). Follow Short of the Week on Facebook [caption id="attachment_4586" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Click to Watch"][/caption] Documentary Short Subject—The Warriors of Quigang: A Chinese Village Fights Back In Quigang, a tiny hamlet of 1,900 people, a nearby chemical plant is polluting the land and water.

A new Thursday, a new set of Sundance shorts. This is the second of three batches of 2011 in-competition shorts that Sundance is sharing via the YouTube Screening Room, and the fourth of five short programs.

Via a live streaming broadcast beginning at 5:30 am where I am, this year's Oscar nominees were announced. I ended up hitting snooze and missed it, but I had an inkling that the information maybe—just maybe, would not be that hard to find at a more sane hour of the day.

If I could have somehow avoided the news about Sundance starting today, I would have—today is the start of the 34th straight Sundance Festival that yours truly will be failing to attend. 34 times have films been watched, pitches been made, deals been sealed, without me.

In last week's first program, Sundance reached back into its archives and issued forth a lineup of short films by four directors who are debuting features films in this year's festival. Today, a new set of 4 short films have been made available through the YouTube Screening Room, this time by four directors who are alumni of the Sundance Labs, the teaching side of the larger year-round Sundance Insitute.