2025 Oscar Nominated Shorts – Live Action

2025's Oscar nominated live action shorts could easily be confused with the documentary shorts, at least three based on true stories, all of them exhibiting social justice themes and little in the way of humor.

Laura's Review: B

"Anuja" is an Indian American coproduction starring Sajda Pathan, the real life recipient of the Salaam Baalak Trust scholarship to help promising street kids. She is Anuja, a nine year-old who works in a back alley sweatshop with her older sister Palak (Ananya Shanbhag) who does everything in her power to ensure a better life for her sister. When Anuja's math skills are noted and she is offered a prestigious education, Palak begins to use material remnants to sew bags on the sly, smuggling them out of their workplace to sell to raise the money for Anuja's 400 rupee entrance fee, a dangerous side hussle that almost gets them caught, but Anuja is faced with a direr threat when their boss, Mr. Verma (Nagesh Bhonsle) decides her talents would be useful in his office and threatens to fire Palak if Anjua goes to school. Director Adam J. Graves tips his hat to Scorsese breaking down workplace process and law-evading capture, ending on the ticking clock of Anuja's impossible decision, but his female protagonists are just a little too perfect, suggesting more of a fable than real life. B

Victoria Warmerdam's Netherlands Belgian coproduction "I'm Not a Robot" is yet another entry in the sentient robot genre, questioning the concept of free will. When music producer Lara's (Ellen Parren) stream of a cover of Radiohead's 'Creep' suddenly stops, she is stymied in her attempt to download a newer version of her program by repeatedly failing Captcha tests which finally report that there is an 87% chance that she is a robot. Freaking out, she calls her boyfriend Daniël (Henry van Loon) only to be cut off when she admits her fears. Suddenly he appears in her workplace with Pam (Thekla Reuten) to share some disturbing news. This short won a prize at the Sitges Film Festival, but doesn't have anything terribly new to say, nor is it particularly cinematic. C+

Another short based on a true story is South Africa's "The Last Ranger" by director Cindy Lee. Young Litha (Liyabona Mroqoza) admires the wood carvings of the native animals her father Thabo (Makhaola Ndebele) makes for a tourist trade which has dried up during the pandemic, favoring a rhinoceros. When she runs into local game warden Khuselwa (Avumile Qongqo) and shows her her father's work, the young woman takes her to see a real white rhino, but their idyllic outing will turn tragic when poachers arrive and Litha must also face a terrible truth. Lee's heartbreaking story is well acted, urgently told and ends on a note both horrific and hopeful. B

Brothers Sam and David Cutler Kreutz represent the U.S.A. with "A Lien," a clever, double entendre title and my personal pick for the Oscar. We are plunged into a family in some sort of crisis, husband Oscar Gomez (William Martinez) desperate to arrive on time for an appointment. As he races through an official building with his wife Sophia (Victoria Ratermanis) and young daughter Nina (Koralyn Rivera), various officials appear unconcerned with their urgency, demanding their passports. By the time we realize Oscar has come for his green card interview, which appears to go in his favor, Sophia has already begun to panic, witnessing ICE agents taking away others in the waiting room. She contacts Oscar, who has their American born daughter, in an attempt to evade them. The Cutler Kreutzs illustrate the chaos and immediacy of a horrific situation with their camerawork and editing, reminding us with closing notes that legal green card interview appointments are routinely target by ICE. "A Lien" is particularly chilling given ICE's near mistake as portrayed here and the escalation of the current climate. A-

In director Nebojša Slijepčević's Croatian Bulgarian French Slovian coproduction, "The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent," a man, Dragan (Goran Bogdan) watches with alarm as the train he is riding on is stopped by armed soldiers. It is 1993, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Dragan notes the discomfort of fellow passenger Milan (Silvio Mumelas). When the ID inspection includes the rather odd question of who the family's patron saint is, Dragan complies with an answer, but when Milan is asked if he is Muslim, it is a retired army soldier, Tomo Buzov (Dragan Micanovic), who rebels, demanding to know just whose country these men represent. The film, which won the Palme d'Or, is a tense recreation of an event which ended in massacre, but fails to tell the whole story for those unfamiliar with the event. B

Robin's Review: B

“Anuja” is the story of the nine-year old of the title, a very intelligent and gifted youg girl, working in a Delhi garment factory with her older sister Palak. When the youngster gets the opportunity for a scholarship, it places her and Palak in a dilemma over their future together.  B+

“I Am Not A Robot” is an intriguing bit of near future science fiction about the dangers and benefits of AI. Lara, a music producer, needs to restart her computer. When it comes back up, she is presented with a series of CAPTCHA questions, which she answers but fails. Is she a human being or is she a ‘bot?  B

“The Last Ranger” brings us into the world of rhinoceros poaching in South Africa’s Amakhala Game Reserve as seen through the eyes of Litha, a young Xhosa girl. She is introduced to the game reserve by the last game warden, Khuselwa, and the terrible tragedy caused by poachers who will kill a rhino for its horn. It is based on true life events.  B

“A lien” tells the story of Oscar Gomez, his wife Sophia and their toddler daughter Nina as they attend an appointment at US Immigration to get him a green card. Instead, he and Nina are seized by ICE agents and he faces deportation. This 2023 live action short tells a chilling family tale that will resonate even more under the new administration.  B+

“The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent” chronicles an ethnic cleansing that took place on February 1993 when a Bosnian paramilitary unit stopped a passenger train out of Belgrade. The 24 Muslims aboard were seized and, later, murdered and only one man out of 500 on board tried to stop the horror.
B

ShortsTV releases the 2025 Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts in theaters on 2/14/25.