- Title: The live action short films hoping to make it big at the Oscars
- Date: 3rd March 2026
- Summary: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 10, 2026) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) WRITER/DIRECTOR, LEE KNIGHT, SAYING: "I kept writing to try and explore that friendship, that very unique friendship that some people might not understand and it sort of ended up being a short film. I experimented with a short play and I wasn't sure and then it ended up being 'A Fr
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: A Friend of Dorothy Butcher's Stain Jane Austen's Period Drama Live Action Shorts Oscars The Singers Two People Exchanging Saliva
- 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: LVA003057903032026RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Five films spanning comedy, dystopian fantasy, musical, political drama and coming-of-age genres are nominated for best live action short film at the Oscars.
British short film "A Friend of Dorothy", directed by Lee Knight, explores the relationship between an old lady named Dorothy (Miriam Margolyes) and a young man J.J. (Alistair Nwachukwu), after he kicks a ball into her garden.
The pair quickly become firm friends and Dorothy starts bringing out the best in the youth.
In the film, Dorothy begins the relationship because she needs help opening her cans of prunes. In reality, Margolyes has a situation that almost mirrors the film.
"I have two young people in my house living as lodgers," said Margolyes.
"It's like a funny sort of family and in the morning, I need someone to put my bra on and fasten it for me because I can't. And in the evening I need someone to take it off and they do it," she said with a titter.
"The Singers" director Sam A. Davis is no stranger to the Oscars. He was nominated for the short "Nai Nai & Wai Po" and was cinematographer on the Oscar-winning short "Period. End of Sentence".
The young filmmaker is back in this year's race with "The Singers". Set in an American dive bar, the regulars spontaneously begin a singing competition and unexpected voices emerge from the variety of drinkers.
Davis said, "It's a celebration of a couple of things, really. Underdogs. You know, this sort of diamond in the rough talents, putting them up on the big screen and giving them their moment in the spotlight, that I think they deserve."
Dystopian fantasy "Two People Exchanging Saliva", directed by Natalie Musteata and Alexandre Singh, is set in a French fashion boutique.
The alternative reality shows a world where intimacy is punishable by death and payment is made in slaps to the face. In the center of it, store worker Malaise (Luana Bajrami) is trying to woo a new client, but her actions soon put both her and the client in danger.
Musteata said, "I think we're living in a moment where the ridiculous and the horrific are really side by side and so I think for that reason the film is really resonating with audiences."
Comedy "Jane Austen's Period Drama" is a seemingly traditional costume drama until the female lead Estrogenia, played by Julia Aks, begins menstruating while being proposed to.
Her beau thinks she is mortally wounded and a comedy of errors ensues.
Aks, who co-directed the film with Steve Pinder, said the film plays on ignorance of female reproductive health and hopes to educate people that this is not reflective of Jane Austen's time period.
She said, "We've had to break it to people and say, It's actually still happening today, tomorrow and that's a large part of why we made the film. We wanted to be helpful in that conversation."
The final nominee is "Butcher's Stain", which explores the daily tensions faced by Arab citizens of Israel.
Written and directed by Meyer Levinson-Blount, who was born in the U.S. and now resides in Israel, the film follows Samir, a butcher and the only Arab working in an Israeli supermarket, falsely accused of tearing down posters of hostages held in Gaza from an employee common room.
Levinson-Blount said the film is about humanity, not politics.
"The film is bringing the conversation back to the human conversation and not to the political situation, not to the argument," he said.
The winner will be announced at the Oscars on March 15.
(Production: Sandra Stojanovic, Rollo Ross) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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