Oscar Documentary Short nominees confront grief, conflict and the cost of bearing witness

Record ID: 2361533

  • Title: Oscar Documentary Short nominees confront grief, conflict and the cost of bearing witness
  • Date: 5th March 2026
  • Summary: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 10, 2026) (Reuters) (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRODUCER, JUAN ARREDONDO, SAYING: "This last three years have been the most deadly according to the Committee to Protect Journalists and we are almost 400 journalists that have been killed around the world. So I think it's a great honor. But it's also for me personally, mixed feeli
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: All the Empty Rooms Armed Only with a Camera Children No More Documentary Shorts Oscars Perfectly a Strangeness The Devil is Busy
  • Location: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
  • City: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Film,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA00B101704032026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Five short documentaries will compete for the Academy Award for best short documentary when the Oscars take place on Sunday, March 15.
    Two of the five share similar themes, showing photographs of slain children to raise empathy for ongoing situations.
    Directed by Joshua Seftel, "All the Empty Rooms" follows TV correspondent Steve Hartman, who is trying to find a new way to illustrate the toll of American school shootings.
    Alongside photographer Lou Bopp, they come across the idea of documenting the bedrooms of children killed in the shootings.
    Hartman told Reuters, "You know, it's a celebratory thing, right? an Oscar nomination, but at the end of the day, you know, there's 8 kids who died to make this documentary possible. So, you know, I come in with very mixed emotions."
    "Children No More: Were and Are Gone", directed by Hilla Medalia, shows Israeli silent protesters who hold up pictures of children slain in Gaza following ramped-up attacks after October 7.
    The documentary shows protesters being harassed by fellow citizens as they stand alongside walkways in Tel Aviv.
    "First of all, that all the violence that the activists were receiving was very, very upsetting," Medalia told Reuters.
    "I want to think that when people see a picture of a young child that lost their life, it will move them. It will be extremely painful. And for some people they look at them and they feel like they're betrayal," she added.
    "Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud" documents the life of journalist Brent Renaud, who was the first American journalist killed in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
    The film is directed by Renaud's brother Craig and produced by Juan Arredondo, who was with Renaud when he was killed.
    At the Oscars luncheon Craig Renaud said, "I think there is a war on the truth right now. And it's more important now than ever to have journalists doing this work. And Brent believed and we believe that without journalism, there is no democracy."
    A day in the life of an abortion clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, is the subject of the short documentary "The Devil is Busy".
    Co-directed by Geeta Gandbhir and Christalyn Hampton, the film shows medical and security staff dealing with both protesters and legal issues as they navigate abortion laws and attitudes.
    "We wanted to show like what these people on the frontline have to go through, and we wanted to be honest to that story and not put our agenda in it," said Hampton.
    The final film in the selection is "Perfectly a Strangeness" by Alison McAlpine.
    The film follows three donkeys, Palomo, Ruperto and Palaye, as they make their way to an observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert.
    McAlpine said, "There are donkeys in this astronomical observatory where we mostly shot. Anyway, so I wanted to stretch myself as a filmmaker. I wanted to do a tall tale that happened in 24 hours. And by using yeah, using my first experiences in this observatory in the Atacama Desert."
    (Production, Sandra Stojanovic, Rollo Ross)
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