Oscar Shorts 2026

Pearls before pine, plus Saliva … with a Camera

Exclusive to MeierMovies, March 8, 2026

As usual, the 15 nominees for the three short Oscars represent a wide variety of styles, subjects and cultures. But this year, perhaps more than most, the films also represent a disparity in quality.

The nominating process is an odd and often unfair one, and it almost always leaves out several of the year’s best shorts. So it’s not a surprise that the 2025 nominees are more of a mixed bag than usual. But one can still recognize the artistry of the five animated, five live-action and five documentary shorts while complaining about the process that brought them all to the 98th Oscar-Nominated Shorts, Presented by Taika Waititi, which is screening at cinemas around the country.

First, it’s not immediately clear why New Zealand filmmaker Waititi’s name is associated with the program. Apparently, because of his passion for short films, he partnered with Roadside Attractions to bring the program to cinemas. And for that he deserves thanks. But he didn’t truly present the program, as his image and voice are completely absent. Instead, we get a clumsy voiceover announcing each film’s name, which is entirely unnecessary except to aid the visually impaired, who can’t watch the films anyway.

Animation

Arguably the top film of them all is La Jeune Fille qui Pleurait des Perles, or The Girl Who Cried Pearls (5 stars on 0-5 scale), a beautiful experiment in stop-motion storytelling from directors Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski. It should and will win the Oscar for short animation. My only regret is that the Waititi program features the English-language version of the Canadian film. Set in Montreal, the movie has a decidedly French feel, and the French-language narration is simply better. If you can find that version, watch it, and then le revoir.

If you didn’t know that pine trees had a soul, Forevergreen (4 stars), from Jeremy Spears and Nathan Engelhardt, might surprise you. Digitally animated in an interesting, almost pine-coney look, it’s a simple but sweet look at the relationship between a bear and an anthropomorphic tree, with an environmental message to boot.

Decidedly not sweet, and not meant for small children, is Butterfly, or Papillon (4 stars) in its native French. Hard-hitting but beautifully hand-crafted – in a paint-on-glass style – the film by Florence Miailhe was inspired by Jewish French swimmer Alfred Nakache, who competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and was later imprisoned at Auschwitz, where he suffered the loss of his wife and daughter.

The two other nominees, Retirement Plan and The Three Sisters (both 3 stars), aren’t as compelling but do represent a major shift in tone, subject and style. In that respect, they make a nice addition to the program, even if they clearly aren’t among the five best cartoons of 2025. Imbued with melancholy existentialism, the former film, by John Kelly, is crudely drawn but includes nice narration by Domhnall Gleeson, as a middle-aged Irish man contemplating the rest of his life. The latter, another simply drawn dramedy, is the least impactful of the five nominees but has its own undefinably quirky charm thanks to director Konstantin Bronzit, a three-time Oscar-short nominee.

Accompanying the five nominees is an additional “highly commended” short, Éiru (3 stars), a hand-drawn Irish folk talk by Giovanna Ferrari. Featuring watercolors, charcoal and ink, it is pleasing both visually and thematically and again proves that the Academy is valuing art created extensively by a human’s hand over CGI. But let’s take a moment to remind ourselves that old-fashioned CGI – I can’t believe I just said “old-fashioned CGI” – is still human-created art, as opposed to AI garbage.

Live Action

Two People Exchanging Saliva

The live-action shorts are also dominated by a single film. It’s Deux Personnes Echangeant de la Salive (5 stars), or Two People Exchanging Saliva, an imaginative dive into a dystopian world in which smooching is punishable by death. Unlike Casablanca, a kiss is NOT still a kiss in French directors Natalie Musteata and Alexandre Singh’s film.

Meyer Levinson-Blount’s Butcher’s Stain, an Israeli social drama, and Lee Knight’s A Friend of Dorothy, an English dramedy featuring Miriam Margolyes and an interesting cameo by Stephen Fry, are typical Oscar fare (both 4 stars). But The Singers (4 stars), from director Sam Davis, isn’t, and that’s welcome news, as its oddball vibe adds variety to the program and proves that an Oscar short doesn’t have to be “about something.” Unfortunately, the final nominee, Jane Austen’s Period Drama (2 stars), directed by Julia Aks and Steve Pinder, is not “about anything” either socially or aesthetically. It is competently made, but sophomoric humor and a one-joke plot make it an odd choice for the Academy. (If there is an upset in this category, it will be Butcher’s Stain, which captures the Gaza zeitgeist.)

Documentary

The documentary program is always the longest and most emotionally exhausting. But it is also the most impactful of the three groups, tackling subjects ranging from Gaza, to gun violence and abortion in the United States, to the value of journalism in war, to … donkeys.

Yes, donkeys. Though Perfectly a Strangness (3 stars), directed by Alison McAlpine, is indeed perfectly strange, it’s a unconventional choice, as it’s almost a pure art film with no issue attached. In that regard, it’s rather refreshing, if still the weakest of the five.

The rest of the films are all predictably weighty. I admittedly had trouble picking a favorite but ultimately settled on Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (5 stars), a reminder of both the enormous sacrifices of journalists and the enormous evil of Vladimir Putin. Thanks to Renaud’s brother, Craig (who spearheaded the project after his brother was killed covering the war in Ukraine), history will remember that Brent ultimately bested Vladimir. In this regard, the short is a great companion piece to the year’s best documentary feature, Mr Nobody Against Putin. May Renaud rest in peace and Putin join him soon, but less peacefully.

Also resting in peace are the countless children lost to the insanity of gun violence in this country, a tragedy given unique perspective in All the Empty Rooms (4 stars), which might be the favorite to take home Oscar. The film by Joshua Seftel and Steve Hartman shows that what’s left behind can be more meaningful than what was.

Pro-life activists would note the parallels between those aforementioned children and the unborn ones lost to abortion, the subject of The Devil Is Busy (4 stars). But, of course, the doc tackles the topic from a pro-choice stance. (This is Hollywood, after all.) Focusing on the daily struggles of an employee at a Georgia abortion clinic, directors Geeta Gandbhir and Christalyn Hampton still manage to turn the topic on its head – because the clinic’s employee is devoutly Christian.

Finally, we return to Gaza, or more accurately the reaction of Tel Aviv citizens to the Gaza massacres, in Children No More: Were and Are Gone (5 stars). Director Hilla Medalia’s film follows Israeli protesters who address the moral conundrum that has brought Israel to its knees: How does one decry Hamas and the wicked October 7 attacks, while also condemning the Gaza War and remembering the countless innocent Arab youths killed? I’m guessing it’s Benajmin Netanyahu’s least favorite film of the year. And for that reason alone, it’s one of my most treasured.

The Academy Awards will be held on March 15. For more of my Oscar coverage, see my commentary on Sinners’ nominations and my analysis of how the recent Actor Awards has affected the Oscar race.