2025 Oscar-Nominated Short Films: Documentary
For the 20th consecutive year, ShortsTV presents the Oscar-Nominated Short Films. With all three categories offered – Animated, Live Action and Documentary – this is your annual chance to predict the winners (and have the edge in your Oscar pool)! A perennial hit with audiences around the country and the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts.
This year's "Documentary" program includes:
DEATH BY NUMBERS
USA/33 MINS/2024
Director: Kim A. Snyder
DEATH BY NUMBERS turns an intimate lens on school shooting survivor Sam Fuentes’s journey to reclaim her power, processing trauma through journaling. To prepare for a confrontation with her assailant in his harrowing sentencing trial, she examines complex questions of collective hatred and justice.
I AM READY, WARDEN
USA/37 MINS/2024
Director: Smriti Mundhra
The latest documentary short film, from MTV Documentary Films, I AM READY, WARDEN, by acclaimed filmmaker Smriti Mundhra (INDIAN MATCHMAKING, ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN) tells the harrowing and emotionally charged story of John Henry Ramirez, a man convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Texas. Through his time on death row, the film offers a rare and intimate glimpse into his attempts to seek redemption and reconciliation. To gain access to the Texas prison system, Mundhra collaborated with journalist Keri Blakinger, whose New York Times Magazine article THE DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS PLAYERS OF DEATH ROW was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
INCIDENT
USA/30 MINS/2023
Director: Bill Morrison
Through a montage of surveillance and police body-camera footage, a reconstruction of a deadly shooting by a Chicago police officer becomes an investigation into how a narrative begins to take shape in the aftermath.
INSTRUMENTS OF A BEATING HEART
JAPAN/23 MINS/2024
Director: Ema Ryan Yamazaki
First graders in a Tokyo public elementary school are presented with a challenge for the final semester: to form an orchestra and perform “Ode to Joy” at a school ceremony. A New York Times Op-Doc.
THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ORCHESTRA
USA/35 MINS/2024
Director: Molly O’Brien
Trailblazing double bassist Orin O’Brien was never one to seek the spotlight, but when Leonard Bernstein hired her in 1966 as the first female musician in the New York Philharmonic, she inevitably became the focus of media attention and, ultimately, one of the most renowned musicians of a generation.
Total runtime: 165 min
[Please note: This year's Oscar-Nominated Short Films may not be appropriate for audiences under the age of 14 due to gun violence, shootings, language, and animated nudity.]
Don't miss the Live Action program on Saturday, February 22 and the Animated program on Friday, February 21. The Academy Awards take place Sunday, March 2nd.
Part of our "Worth a Watch" series. Courtesy of Shorts TV.