2026 Oscar-Nominated Documentary Shorts
Edwin Arnaudin: And now we come to the dreaded documentary shorts — an annual mammoth undertaking for its runtime (you can count on it being 2.5 hours pretty much every time) and difficult subject matter. And yet its potential for yielding something(s) great and making one feel a little more connected to the human condition make it worth the effort.
That's again the case this time as we're presented with four finalists that all have important things to say — and one about a couple of jackasses. Did any of them stand out to y'all?
James Rosario: Aside from the expected and possibly overindulgent runtime you mentioned, I'm rather surprised to say I don't have much issue with any of this year's nominees. Aside from "Perfectly A Strangeness" (the jackass movie, a harmless if superfluous entry), all the entrants tackled their rather weighty subject matter with a refreshing amount of empathy and grace. I didn't feel browbeaten as I have so many times in the past.
What I found interesting was that, instead of presenting us with tragic subject matter as a means of shocking us into outrage, the filmmakers this year chose to present us with solutions. They showed us the activists working to prevent the tragedies from happening again. The distinction may be subtle, but I think it's an important one.
That being said, I found "All the Empty Rooms," about a journalist and a photographer's attempt to memorialize the victims of school shootings by photographing their bedrooms, to be a particularly moving piece.
The Devil is Busy (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)
Bruce Steele: I agree with you on "All the Empty Rooms." It's a highly laudable project — both the documentary short and the much-more-extensive still-photography collections that inspired the doc — and it humanizes a crisis without brow-beating.
I don't know that I agree that these shorts present solutions, though. While it's the odds-on favorite to win the Oscar, "Empty Rooms" magnifies grief but offers no path to (or even mention of) gun control. Similarly, "The Devil Is Busy" shows the battle lines in the fight over abortion rights by depicting a typically tense day at a Georgia women's health clinic, but there's no sense of a possible resolution to the conflict, in part because those opposed are largely irrational. (The counterprotestors at the clinic get way more screen time than they deserve in this short.)
And my least favorite, other than the ridiculous, wordless donkeys' visit to a Chilean observatory complex, was the Israel/Palestine tale "Children No More: Were and Are Gone." It's a worthwhile subject, yes, but the short is all surfaces, with no attempt to understand the deeper motivations on either side. I found it fascinating for about half its length, then it became repetitive and inconclusive.
Edwin: That's the problem with this year's nominees: Each of the four "real" films lost me at a certain point due to simply being too goddamn long. The same goes for "Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud," which includes some of the most harrowing footage of the bunch while depicting its subject's fascinating life in war zones, then includes about seven eulogies too many.
There are similar points in the other three finalists where we needed Bill Conti to play the "wrap it up" music, but even then this is the strongest group in years. And as James said, they're not so punishingly bleak that we need a frivolous distraction to stay invested. So if anyone has an explanation why Ass Movie is here, I'm all (donkey) ears.
Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)
James: I do wish the documentary short segment could figure out how to keep its runtimes down while maintaining powerful narratives, but at this point, it might just be one of those "it is what it is" moments.
The only explanation I can think of for the inclusion of "Perfectly A Strangeness" is that there wasn't a frivolous and self-congratulatory feel good "industry" crowd pleaser to choose from this year. As we know, the Oscars love their pats on the back, so barring that, they went with a bunch of donkeys walking around the desert — which is oddly apt in roundabout kind of way. A case could be made that from a visual standpoint, "Strangeness" has its moments, but even if that were an adequate enough argument, it has no business being included as a nominee.
Bruce: I don’t think I do the right drugs to appreciate “Strangeness” — which, I might add was certainly odd but not the least bit strange. I’ll sign on to your explanation for its inclusion, and I’ll second Edwin’s assessment of both the length problem and the quality of the offerings. I’ll give the program a B-plus — missing an A because of those dopey donkeys.
James: I second the B-plus, and the issue we all have with the runtime. Had that been under control, this program would have been an A from me as well.
Edwin: I could maybe go with a B-plus if the four legit films were each 5-10 minutes shorter, but they’re not and the program gets off to such a “WTF” start that it could never recover to A-level status. So, B it is.
Grade: B-plus. Not rated but with adult themes and language.
(Photo of All the Empty Rooms courtesy of Roadside Attractions)
