HollyShorts screening: 6 Oscar contenders for Best Live-Action Short

Jacob Sarkisian
·7 min read
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HollyShorts and Goldfinch hosted several Oscar contenders in the short film categories witha special screening in London last week. Directors were on-hand to introduce their films and talk about their work. The night featured shorts from both blazing newcomers and Oscar-winning filmmakers flexing their muscles once more.

Beth Park‘s “Wild Animal” screened for the first time after only being completed the day before. The short depicted a woman suffering disorientation, paranoia, confusion, and loss of identity in this smart exploration of new motherhood. Park called the film “a journey of a lifetime” and said that the film would never have been made without the sense of team spirit found in her first short.

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Misan Harriman‘s short film — Netflix’s “The After” — was up next. Harriman is best known for his work as a photographer and has photographed many high-profile celebrities including Steve McQueen and Liam Neeson. He turned his focus onto filmmaking with “The After,” a searing drama about a father (David Oyelowo) who has to figure out how to cope with life in the aftermath of a horrific attack.

“I wanted to make a short as my first film because it allowed me not to feel overwhelmed when stepping into a new medium. But I also felt that with the right story arc, it could show my potential as somebody in this medium. I had a real challenging time during lockdown. And I don’t think I’m alone. And I wanted to make a film that told people it’s okay not to be okay. This is a film with a lot of pain but it is fundamentally a film about healing,” Harriman explained before detailing how crucial Oyelowo’s involvement is to the short film.

“I think he is one of the great actors of our time. David Oyelowo is one of the great actors of our time. And what he left on the screen — acting is not the right word for it. David lost his father not long before we started filming and you can see that on the screen. I feel honored to be a custodian of what that meant to him. It’s all real,” Harriman said. Oyelowo’s performance is powerful, demonstrating his entire range of acting chops in the short, while Harriman’s direction explores this subject in a unique way that signals the arrival of a profound filmmaking voice. Harriman, by the way, managed to secure Oyelowo’s services via a DM on Instagram.

Next up was “Villain,” an atmospheric drama about trauma from Sparky Tehnsuko. Like Harriman, Tehnsuko landed the acting chops of a big-name star as Bella Ramsey harkened back to her “Game of Thrones” days by starring in this period short. “This is a story of the perspective of trauma about a young woman who unwisely tries to take revenge for the destruction of her home and the death of her mother by hunting a dragon. She then has to deal with the consequences of what she finds while trying to do so,” Tehnsuko said.

The dragon is beautifully realized with CGI you’d more likely see in a feature rather than a short while the lighting and cinematography capture Ramsey’s expressive face via firelight and shadow, making for an atmospheric work. “It’s always a pleasure just to have any film seen by anyone. So for there to be a crowd that is very imposing is great,” Tehnsuko said.

“The Stupid Boy” was the fourth film that played and this one, from Phill Dunn, offered a lot of heart. The film tells the story of a neuro-divergent student trying to understand the world around him as suicide bombers carry out attacks in London. Dunn’s filmmaking journey is a peculiar one — he started out studying medicine at Imperial College but soon pivoted to theology. It was these studies that eventually led to some elements found in “The Stupid Boy.”Another inspiration was the 2005 London terror attacks.

“I remember being in London and thinking ‘what would I do?’ if it happened. And I was reading about proactive non-violence at the time — doing something about the situation but without using violence. And if there was somebody stood outside with a bomb — what if, instead of running, someone walked towards them out of love? This film is about the simple power of love, which we often write off as naive, stupid, and childish,” Dunn explained. The film’s lead actor, Joshua Griffin, was in attendance, too, and Dunn told those of us at the reception while he cast Griffin.

“I wanted someone who was actually neuro-divergent and when we got his self-tape, all of the nuance that you couldn’t find otherwise was there. It wasn’t the way he said the lines, although that was brilliant, it was the little looks and the mannerisms that got the character straight away,” Dunn said.

The final two films came from short film royalty with past Oscar winners Chris Overton and filmmaking duo Ross White and Tom Berkeley screening their films (although White and Berkeley were not in attendance). Overton won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film in 2018 for “The Silent Child” with Rachel Shenton, who stars in their new short “In Too Deep.”

“It’s the story of a grieving father who goes to extreme measures and uses A.I. technology to bring back the memories of his dead daughter, so… a laugh a minute as you can tell,” Overton said. “I love events like this because I love hanging out with filmmakers. I really do. I think it’s a special community and short films are so hard to make. They’re very special and we can all share how hard they are to make.”

Shenton delivers another splendid performance here, demonstrating tremendous screen presence and intelligence as a performer who is surely set to become a massive star. Meanwhile, Overton — a masterful director — guides the subject matter from heartbreaking tragedy to something more sinister so deftly it takes your breath away. It’s certainly one of the most impactful films of the year and the topic of A.I. is a timely one right now that concerns actors and writers, so Oscar voters will want to catch this one.

Last up was White and Berkeley’s “The Golden West,” an exquisitely made western set in Ireland in 1849. Two sisters, having fled the Great Famine, try to strike it rich in the gold rush but their age-old feud threatens to derail their quest, relationship, and lives completely. Two powerhouse performances from Eileen Walsh and Aoife Duffin lead the way while the sweeping vistas and expert cinematography give this short a cinematic quality that most features would swap half their budget for. White and Berkeley won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film earlier this year for “An Irish Goodbye” and could make it back-to-back wins this upcoming Academy Awards with this stunning Irish western.

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