Short of the Week
Another awards season has come to a close! While the spotlight may be on Sean Baker and Anora as the night’s big winners, with the words “Long Live Independent Film!” still echoing, those of us in the short film world were especially celebrating the incredible success of Gints Zilbalodis and his film Flow.
A true embodiment of the DIY spirit of independent filmmaking, we’ve been following the career of Zilbalodis for over a decade at Short of the Week. We’ve had the privilege of watching his unique style evolve from short films to feature-length work, funding his first feature “as four short films” and adapting his approach to take his filmmaking to next level. Flow is a testament to his vision and dedication, and we couldn’t be happier to see him and his team earn this well-deserved recognition. We can’t wait to see what comes next!
Of course, huge congratulations as well to all the teams behind this year’s nominated short films. This year we found the race hard to call, but in the end, there can only be one winner per category. So, without further ado, here are the winners of Best Animated Short Film, Best Documentary Short Film, and Best Live-Action Short Film at the 97th Academy Awards:
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Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
Winner: In the Shadow of the Cypress (Dar Saaye Sarv) by Shirin Sohani & Hossein Molayemi
Gutted for Miyu Distribution, who, with an unprecedented three nominations, could still not break through to their first win. However, the Iranian team of In the Shadow of the Cypress is a feel-good story—uncertain whether they could attend the ceremony due to visa issues, the directors landed at LAX just three hours before event.
While not our team’s pick, the short was the most substantive of the category, dealing with issues of war and PTSD in a thoughtful allegory, and perhaps this poetic approach is what appealed to voters. Combined with a clean and stately style, the short is a fine pick in this unusually international category.
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Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film
Winner: The Only Girl in the Orchestra by Molly O’Brien
The fourth win in the past 9 years for Netflix in the category, this artist profile of Orin O’Brien, the first woman in the New York Philharmonic, a mentee of Leonard Bernstein, and an overall remarkable lady, is certainly a crowd-pleaser. Directed by her niece Molly, the production’s access to this retiring and charmingly self-effacing talent makes the film. There are a lot of interesting themes in this 30+ minute short, but we felt too many of them were only given surface treatment, perhaps because of the closeness of the filmmaker to her subject. While the involvement of Netflix and the artist angle of the film means its win is no surprise, this is several years in a row that the Academy has rewarded an uplifting documentary as opposed to a heavier war or social-issue film, so this is a trend to keep an eye on.
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Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film
Winner: I’m Not a Robot by Victoria Warmerdam
To our shame, we got waxed in our predictions this year. After Animation was awarded to the most “serious” short in the nominee pool, and Documentary went to the most traditionally crowd-pleasing, Live-Action surprised by following neither path, going instead to the most enigmatic and uncategorizable short.
It also went to the one our team deemed the best. One of only four S/W Official Selections among the 15 nominated shorts and our pick for most-worthy winner, we’re ecstatic for Victoria and Trent! Kudos as well to The New Yorker, who distributed the film. They have become major players in short film acquisition in recent years, picking up dozens of films and they are now awarded with their second win.