Oscar® Shorts 2025: Live Action

Every year VIFF Centre showcases the short film nominees across three categories: Best Live Action Short, Best Animated Short, and Best Short Documentary. While feature films seem to stretch longer and longer and audiences remain hungry to binge endless TV series, these mini masterpieces remind us that brevity is the soul of wit, and less can be more. This year’s live action shorts include films from India, South Africa, the USA, the Netherlands, and Croatia about rhinos, robots, and testing times.

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, Nebojša Slijepčević and Danijel Pek, Croatia, 13 min: A passenger train from Belgrade to Bar is stopped by paramilitary forces in an ethnic cleansing operation, in a dramatization of the Štrpci massacre of 1993

Anuja, Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai, US/India, 22 min: Nine-year-old Anuja works in a garment factory with her older sister Palak. When she’s given the opportunity to take an exam that could get her into a boarding school, she must make a tough choice about her future.

I’m Not a Robot, Victoria Warmerdam and Trent, Netherlands/Belgium, 22 min: After repeatedly failing Captcha tests, a music producer named Lara becomes obsessed with a disturbing question: could she be a robot?

A Lien, Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz, USA, 15 min: On the day of their green card interview, a young couple confronts a dangerous immigration process.

The Last Ranger, Cindy Lee and Darwin Shaw, South Africa, 28 min: A young South African girl, Litha, is being introduced to game reserve by the last remaining ranger when they are ambushed by poachers, leading to a battle to protect the rhinos.