Friday, November 20, 2015

88th Academy Awards Live Short Films Shortlist


The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that ten (10) live short films will advance in the voting process for the 88th Academy Awards.

One hundred forty-four (144) pictures had originally qualified in the category. Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting.

These are the 10 short films.

Alles Wird Gut (Everything Will Be Okay), Patrick Vollrath, Germany and Austria, 30'
Ave Maria, Basil Khalil, France, Germany and Palestine, 15'
Bad Hunter, Sahim Omar Kalifa, Belgium, UAE and Iraq, 14'
Bis Gleich ('Till Ten), Benjamin Wolff, Germany and USA, 20'
Contrapelo (Against the Grain), Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, USA, Mexico, UK and Taiwan, 19"
Day One, Henry Hughes, USA, 25'
Shok, Jamie Donoughue, UK, Kosovo and Serbia, 21'
Stutterer, Benjamin Cleary, UK, 12'
Winter Light, Julian Higgins, USA, 29'
自由人 Zi You Ren (The Free Man), Quah Boon-Lip, Taiwan, 30'

Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist. Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, London, New York and San Francisco in December.

The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at 5:30 a.m. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

Alles Wird Gut (Everything Will Be Okay) by Patrick Vollrath
Synopsis: A divorced father picks up his eight-year-old daughter Lea. It seems pretty much like every second weekend, but after a while Lea can't help feeling that something isn't right. So begins a fateful journey.



Ave Maria by Basil Khalil
Synopsis: Nuns of the ‘Sisters of Mercy’ convent in the middle of the West Bank wilderness have their daily routine of silence and prayer disrupted when a family of religious Israeli settlers crash their car into the convent’s wall.  The Sabbath is approaching and they need to get home urgently, however, because of the Sabbath laws, the Israelis can’t operate a phone to call for assistance, and the Nuns have taken a vow of silence. Together they have to come up with an unorthodox plan to help them get home.



Bad Hunter by Sahim Omar Kalifa
Synopsis: “Bad Hunter” is a social drama about a failed young hunter named Bahoz. Bahoz is 19 years old and lives surrounded by nature composed of beautiful landscapes. Those landscapes are places where many hunters go to hunt. Bahoz goes every day to the mountains to hunt, but catches very little. But today is the day that will change his life forever. Bahoz sees a young girl being raped by an older man. For Bahoz it's a good opportunity to finally save a life instead of killing one and redeem himself.



Bis Gleich ('Till Ten) by Benjamin Wolff
Synopsis: An unspoken connection between two elderly neighbors, who share a daily ritual but who have never actually met, deepens when they face the inevitable...together.



Contrapelo (Against the Grain) by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer
Synopsis: The story of a proud Mexican barber who is forced to shave the leader of a drug cartel. As he faces the man who is destroying his country, he is confronted by a difficult decision: to become a killer, or to let this man continue to kill. By the end of the shave, the Barber will find out that he and the Capo are not so different.



Day One by Henry Hughes
Synopsis: On her first day in Afghanistan, an interpreter for the US Army is forced to deliver the child of an enemy bomb-maker.



Shok by Jamie Donoughue
Synopsis: The friendship of two boys is tested to its limits as they battle for survival during the Kosovo war...



Stutterer by Benjamin Cleary
Synopsis: Greenwood speaks eloquently in his head, but his interactions with the world are hampered by his stutter.



Winter Light by Julian Higgins
Synopsis: When an aging college professor confronts two hunters trespassing on his property, he begins an escalating battle of wills that will test his faith in everything he holds dear. Adapted from a short story by acclaimed author James Lee Burke, WINTER LIGHT is a modern-day revisionist Western set in the frozen wilderness of Montana.



自由人 Zi You Ren (The Free Man) by Quah Boon-Lip (aka Sam Quah)
Synopsis: He is an ex-con who tries to turn over a new leaf by working at a laundry store. She is a young woman with physical disability and is taken in to help out in the store since her parents pass away. There has been so little freedom that they can enjoy and they keep yearning. But is the world willing to give them more?


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