2015 Oscar Nominated Shorts - Live Action

As promised, this is the second of my two posts pertaining to this year's Oscar nominated short films.  The first, covering the animated shorts, can be seen below or by following this link.  Here I cover the five live action short films that earned nominations from the Academy.  They tend to have longer run times, so no other considerations were screened like there were with the animated shorts.

Just in case you're interested, the criteria that these films must meet to be eligible for the Oscars can be seen here.

Once again, a big thanks to The Grandin Theatre for making these films available for viewing!  Now here are this year's live action short nominees (listed alphabetically):



Aya (2014), NR, 40 minutes - A young woman stands in for a chauffeur at the airport as he has to go move his vehicle.  When the client he was waiting for arrives and he hasn't returned, Aya decides to jumble things up and take his place.  An odd and interesting story that shows a woman who feels the need to do something different but comes to the realization that she has everything she needs at home already.











Boogaloo and Graham (2014), NR, 14 minutes - A heartfelt story of two young boys and their pet chickens, er roosters, and the lengths a parent will go to in order to keep their children's hearts from breaking.  This was probably my favorite of the live action films overall.












Butter Lamp (2013), NR, 15 minutes - A young photographer and his assistant take pictures of Tibetan nomads in front of back drops depicting touristy-like locations.  There's a nice twist at the end when you see what the back drops were covering up all along.












Parvaneh (2012), NR, 25 minutes - This is the story of a young Afghan immigrant to Switzerland named Parvaneh and her efforts to get money sent back home for her ailing father.  She's too young (under 18) and as a recent immigrant does not have the required identification to transfer the money.  She enlists the help of a local girl and they strike up a friendship.











The Phone Call (2013), NR, 20 minutes - This short really packs a punch.  Not only does it include a previous Oscar nominee (Sally Hawkins), but a previous winner (Jim Broadbent).  It shows the ups and downs of a very emotional conversation between an elderly gentleman (voiced by Broadbent) and the shy woman (Hawkins) who takes his call as an operator for a help line and does her best to talk him out of taking his life.  Easily the most emotional and impactful of the batch of nominees.






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