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Nominations voting is from January 8-17, 2025, with official Oscar nominations announced January 23, 2025. Final voting is February 11-18, 2025. And finally, the 97th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 2 and air live on ABC at 7:00 p.m. ET/ 4:00 p.m. PT. We update our picks through awards season, so keep checking IndieWire for all our 2025 Oscar predictions.
The State of the Race
In recent years, recognizable names have flooded the Best Live Action Short category, with two of the last three winners being Wes Anderson and Riz Ahmed, both previously nominated in different categories.
This time around, the celebrity presence is more subtle, though even if there were a flood of already acclaimed directors giving short films a go again, the Short Films branch would probably reject them if it at all felt like a shameless Oscar grab.
The film right on the fence of this internal debate is “Dovecote,” directed by Marco Perego, and starring his spouse Zoe Saldaña, also among the Best Supporting Actress frontrunners for her role in “Emilia Pérez.” While plenty of other contenders, even before the shortlist was published, brought on celebrity executive producers to gain more publicity for their films, the short that documents a seaside prison in Venice, as one woman is freed, is positioned more as a chance for Perego to announce himself as a filmmaker in his own right, with Saldaña’s involvement a given.
Short film “Anuja,” the big winner at major category launchpad HollyShorts Film Festival, has a more traditional celebrity collaboration, boasting Mindy Kaling as a producer. But Kaling has proven savvy over the years in attaching her name to a project to add value. For example, she was one of several producers shepherding the Broadway musical “A Strange Loop,” which won the Tony for Best Musical in 2022, and produced Best Documentary Feature nominee “To Kill a Tiger” last year, which received that nomination without any distribution.
All that said, it’s the people already in the short film community who hold most influence in this category. As unpredictable as these things can be, it feels fair to say that the film “Clodagh” has a strong chance at securing the nomination, having been produced by Serena Armitage, who won the Best Live Action Short Oscar almost a decade ago. Although the film is cheerier than what the Academy has a reputation for recognizing in this category, it’s boosted by DP Jomo Fray, a possible Best Cinematography nominee for his work on “Nickel Boys.” “Clodagh” is also the only short film on the BAFTA longlist to still be in Oscar consideration.
Though it’s not unusual for Live Action Short contenders to tackle heavy subject matter, shortlist voting has already shown that voters have their eye on projects involving global wars and genocide. “The Ice Cream Man,” starring “The Americans” actor Noah Emmerich, and Student Academy Award winner “The Compatriot,” are both set in WWII Europe. “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent,” which won Best Short Film at the European Film Awards, takes place in 1993 as ethnic cleansing was happening in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “An Orange from Jaffa” is set in modern times, showing one young Palestinian man’s struggle to get through an Israeli checkpoint. All four films have a strong shot at a nomination just based on the idea that their recognition sends the message that filmmakers can still make meaningful statements through shorts as with feature films.
Contenders are listed in alphabetical order below.
Frontrunners:
“An Orange from Jaffa”
“Anuja”
“Clodagh”
“The Compatriot”
“Dovecote”
Contenders:
“A Lien”
“Crust”
“Edge of Space”
“The Ice Cream Man”
“I’m Not a Robot”
“The Last Ranger”
“The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent”
“The Masterpiece”
“Paris 70”
“Room Taken”
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