Every year, the Oscar-nominated short films deliver some of the boldest storytelling, the biggest emotional swings, and the most inventive filmmaking anywhere on the ballot. They’re compact, adventurous, and often unforgettable — and seeing them before the ceremony doesn’t just make you a more informed viewer; it gives you a real edge in our ongoing Oscar contest. If you want a competitive advantage (and bragging rights), the shorts are your secret weapon.
Come see the 2026 slate of Oscar-nominated shorts beginning February 20th at various Laemmle locations.
This year’s nominees across the Animated, Live Action, and Documentary categories once again prove that small runtimes can deliver enormous impacts. After all, we love short things: short stories, short ribs, short naps, short lines at the concession stand — and yes, short films.
Animated Short Film Nominees
This year’s entries for animation range from historical to mythic to darkly funny:
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Butterfly (France) paints the life of Olympic swimmer Alfred Nakache—from glory to Auschwitz and back again—as a flowing stream of memory.
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Forevergreen (USA) delivers an eco-fable about an orphaned bear cub and its arboreal protector.
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The Girl Who Cried Pearls (Canada) offers a haunting, handcrafted tale of love, sorrow, and avarice.
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Retirement Plan (Ireland) brings wry humor to a man’s elaborate fantasies about his golden years.
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The Three Sisters (Israel/Cyprus) unfolds wordlessly, following siblings surviving in isolation.
Live Action Short Film Nominees
The live-action lineup is especially wide-ranging this year as satire, dystopia, tenderness, and social tension all share the same stage:
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Butcher’s Stain (Israel) centers on an Arab-Israeli supermarket worker accused of tearing down hostage posters at his workplace.
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Jane Austen’s Period Drama (USA) is an Austen-inspired satire about a woman whose sudden menstruation interrupts her much-anticipated marriage proposal.
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Two People Exchanging Saliva (France/USA) imagines a future where kissing is punishable by death.
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A Friend of Dorothy (UK) follows a lonely widow whose routine is broken by an unexpected connection.
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The Singers (USA) builds drama around an unlikely sing-off, inspired by Turgenev’s lauded short story.
Documentary Short Film Nominees
The documentary shorts continue to be a testing ground for urgent, personal, and formally daring nonfiction:
- All the Empty Rooms depicts the profound grief of school shootings via the untouched bedrooms of its victims.
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Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud honors the life, career, and death of an American journalist killed in Ukraine.
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Children No More: “Were and Are Gone” follows Israeli peace activists holding silent vigils in Tel Aviv for slain Gazan children.
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The Devil Is Busy chronicles the day-to-day operations of a reproductive health clinic post-Roe v. Wade.
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Perfectly a Strangeness follows three donkeys exploring an abandoned observatory.
Previous short-film winners have gone on to become cultural touchstones and launch major careers, and they frequently preview themes and talents that shape the future of feature filmmaking. Watching them now isn’t just homework — it’s discovery.