Ahead of the Academy Awards, we’ve reviewed every short film in each category: Animation, Documentary, and Live Action. Below are the Best Animated Short nominees: Beautiful Men | Belgium/France/Netherlands | 18 minutes Three brothers.

Perhaps it’s a sign of the times, that drumbeat of anxiety pulsing through the live action segment of this year’s Oscar nominated short films. Proximity to Valentine’s Day notwithstanding, this stress-filled collection boasts nary a spark of romance nor a scintilla of comedy.

Last year, Yegane Moghaddam made history when her short “Our Uniform” became the first Iranian nominee in the category’s history in 2024. It didn’t take long for the country to repeat that feat this year by scoring a nomination with Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani’s 2D short “In the Shadow of the Cypress,” about a captain suffering from PTSD.

Ahead of the Academy Awards, we’re reviewing every short film in each category: Animation, Documentary, and Live Action. Follow here this week. Below are the Best Documentary Short nominees: Death by Numbers | USA | 33 minutes Four years.

Our film critic reviews the animated category’s candidates, which are playing at Coolidge Corner, and picks his choice to win the Oscar.

The Tallahassee Film Society is screening Oscar-nominated shorts this weekend at the IMAX Challenger Learning Center.