Presenting this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Live Action Short Film:

The Door
dir. Juanita Wilson, Ireland, 17 min.
A father attempts to come to terms with the devastating effects of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Instead of Abracadabra
dir. Patrik Eklund, Sweden, 22 min.
Tomas is a bit too old for still living at home with his parents, but his failure to become a magician leaves him with no other choice. His father Bengt wants him to get a proper job. On Bengt’s 60th birthday party Tomas give him, and all his guests, an quite bizarre show.

Kavi
dir. Gregg Helvey, US/India, 19 min.
Kavi is a boy in India who wants to play cricket and go to school, but instead he is forced to work in a brick kiln as a modern-day slave. Unsatisfied with his fate, Kavi must either accept what he’s always been told, or fight for a different life even if he’s unsure of the ultimate outcome.

Miracle Fish
dir. Luke Doolan, Australia, 17 min.
8-year-old Joe has a birthday he will never forget. After friends tease him, he sneaks off to the sick bay, wishing everyone in the world would go away. He wakes up to find his dream may have become a reality.
 
The New Tenants
dir. Joachim Back, Denmark/US, 20 min.
A prying neighbour, a glassy-eyed drug dealer, and a husband brandishing both a weapon and a vendetta make up the welcome wagon. Set amidst the as-yet-unopened boxes and the hopes for a fresh start of two men on what might just be the worst moving day ever. Their new apartment reveals its terrifying history in a film that is by turns funny, frightening, and unexpectedly romantic.