On Friday night we went to a screening of Oscar-nominated short films at The Rooms!
Friday was a fairly chilly and stormy night, but we made our way to the Rooms for 4 hours (!) of Oscar-nominated short films. The screening was put off by the St. John's International Women's Film Festival and it was the first time that the Oscar nominees for the best short film had been screened in St. John's. It was a lot to watch but was very entertaining. It also made us more interested in watching other Oscar-nominated films in future years because this year we were most interested to see who won the short film categories - which isn't what you'd expect.
The evening started off with a screening of the nominees for the Best Animated Short Film. The nominees were:
- Get a Horse! - A clever black and white Mickey Mouse film by Walt Disney, where the characters are forced through the movie screen and become colour, CGI versions of themselves in the middle of a comical battle on both sides of the screen.
- Mr Hublot - A film set in the future about a man befriending a mechanical dog who never seems to stop growing
- Feral - A wordless tale of a young boy raised in the woods by wolves who is brought to civilisation. It looked like a moving oil painting, and both of us were kind of hypnotised by the end of it.
- Possessions - A comedy about a general fix-it man taking shelter from a storm in a temple inhabited by the spirits of broken possessions. A weird and funny tale. Very Japanese!
- Room on the Broom - An adaptation of a children's book that tells the story of a witch and her cat and a rag tag group of lonely animals that end up joining them on their broom. Features a star-studded cast including the likes of Gillian Anderson and Simon Pegg.
Out of all of the choices, our favourite to win was Room on the Broom. It was by far the longest animated short but it was constantly entertaining and the characters were comical.
The cast was also star-studded, even though they barely spoke, and the film was very well done in general. There was some subtle humour for the adults, but it was great for kids.
The cast was also star-studded, even though they barely spoke, and the film was very well done in general. There was some subtle humour for the adults, but it was great for kids.
The Oscar went to...
Mr Hublot
It wasn't our top choice but it was an enjoyable heart-warming film to watch. Plus, it had a dog.
After the animated films were screened, half an hour later the nominees for Best Live Action Short Film were shown. Whereas the animated films were mostly light and humorous, the live action films were intense. And long. Anything under 40 minutes is considered a short film and almost all of the films were 20-30 minutes. The nominees were:
- Helium - A terminally ill young boy befriends an eccentric hospital janitor, who helps him to deal with the final stages of his life.
- The Voorman Problem - A quirky dark comedy featuring Bilbo Baggins/John Watson as a psychiatrist who's brought into a prison to analyse an inmate who believes himself to be God.
- Avant que de tout perdre (Just before Losing Everything) - A gripping short film about a young woman attempting to flee an abusive relationship with her two children.
- Aquel no era yo (That wasn't me) - Another really tense film about child soldiers in Africa and a border crossing gone horribly wrong.
- Do I Have to Take Care of Everything? - A light-hearted Finnish comedy about a woman trying to get her family ready to go to a wedding. A great, easy way to end an otherwise intense evening of cinema!
Out of all of the live action choices, our favourite to win was Just before Losing Everything. It was gripping and kept us on the edge of our seats throughout. It also required the viewer to figure some things out for themselves and was scarily realistic.
The Oscar went to...
Helium
It was a sweet movie, but not one of our top picks. However, we can see why it was picked. It's not hard to be wrapped up in a story involving a sick/dying child.
But obviously we don't pick the winners, so there you have it! We're looking forward to seeing the short films again next year (fingers crossed) and hoping to watch more of the feature length films as well so that we're interested to see the winners in every category!
