Oscars Category Dissection: The Short, International, and Documentary Nominees - Awards Outlook
Photo from CNN
Awards analysis is provided by Sean from @MathTeacherMovies.
The six categories that recognize the short, animated, international, and documentary films have often been a sidecar to the rest of the Oscars ceremony, but in the past few years as the Academy has become more international some of them have begun to bleed into some of the main categories, with this year is no exception.
Even with the negative reactions to its abundance of nominations, Emilia Pérez has still been an Oscar front runner for the Best International Feature Film, primarily due to the film getting nominated in both this category and Best Picture. However, the negative reactions have turned into genuine controversy that is transcending the typical online discourse and becoming more and more of a black eye for the industry. In addition to its controversies, Emilia Pérez is also facing a sharp opponent that is literally rising in popularity and also nominated for Best Picture with I’m Still Here, a film was a threat before things got difficult for Emilia Pérez and now it is even more likely with a strong Brazilian contingent in the Academy.
Much like the International category, Best Animated Film has also been narrowed down to two films battling it out…amazingly Inside Out 2 is not one of them. Even though Pixar is quite the juggernaut, this category hates sequels unless they are from the Toy Story franchise. Therefore, the race is down to The Wild Robot and Flow, both involving characters attempting to survive a dystopian future. The Wild Robot is the box office hit and the more populous pick. With it also having a nomination for score and sound, it is the very likely winner. However, Flow has the chance of grabbing the win after also being nominated for International Film and winning the Golden Globe for Best Animated Film, and while not definite precursors to a win, they could cause momentum to surge.
The Best Documentary category feels almost impossible to predict as there is genuinely no frontrunner. The argument could be that No Other Land is the splashiest pick and the most popular, but this could be controversial enough that many people will want to avoid this film winning. However, the fact that the film managed to grab a nomination shows that it has the possibility to win. Sugarcane is also capable of winning as it is building the most momentum, but again there is still no clear frontrunner at this time.
The three short film categories are always some of the most difficult to predict and are what end up sinking most Oscar pools.. Most of the nominations for Best Live Action Short film are about very important issues with the immigration issue the most prevalent, which means that A Lien could be the frontrunner. However, Anuja is the one film that is available on Netflix which does not necessarily mean that it is a lock for the win, but it will be more in the atmosphere.
Most people most likely read this column to get thoughts on specific elements of various awards races, so I apologize when talking about the category of Best Animated Short film and not knowing a single thing about any of the nominees. However, based on what has been said very lightly, the short film Magic Candies seems like a little bit of dust has been kicked up and could possibly win, but there is easily no clear front runner.
Like the Live Action Short film category there are a great deal of important Best Documentary Short Subject nominees and they are quite intense. For that reason a film that is a bit more wholesome like Instruments of a Beating Heart could end up being the winner for having a more wholesome subject matter. This could also mean that The Only Girl in the Orchestra could end up being the winner, especially since that one has Netflix backing it.
The Oscars air on ABC and Hulu March 2nd, 2025.