2025 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Documentary
For the 20th consecutive year, ShortsTV presents the Oscar-Nominated Short Films.
With all three categories offered – Animated, Live Action and Documentary – this is your annual chance to predict the winners (and have the edge in your Oscar pool)! A perennial hit with audiences around the country and the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts. The Academy Awards take place Sunday, March 2nd.
2025 Documentary Program:
Instruments of a Beating Heart
dir. Ema Ryan Yamazaki/Japan/23min/in Japanese with English subtitles
A New York Times Op-Docs, first graders in a Tokyo public elementary school are presented with a challenge for the final semester: to form an orchestra and perform “Ode to Joy” at a school ceremony.
Incident
dir. Bill Morrison/USA/30min
Through a montage of surveillance and police body-camera footage, a reconstruction of a deadly shooting by a Chicago police officer becomes an investigation into how a narrative begins to take shape in the aftermath.
I Am Ready, Warden
dir. Smriti Mundhra/USA/37min
John Henry Ramirez is convicted of murder and sentenced to death in the state of Texas. During his incarceration, Ramirez tries to reach out to his victim's son while also preparing to say goodbye to his family.
The Only Girl in the Orchestra
dir. Molly O'Brien/USA/34min
Trailblazing double bassist Orin O’Brien was never one to seek the spotlight, but when Leonard Bernstein hired her in 1966 as the first female musician in the New York Philharmonic, she inevitably became the focus of media attention and, ultimately, one of the most renowned musicians of a generation.
Death By Numbers
dir. Kim A. Snyder/USA/33min
Four years after being shot with an AR-15 in her high school, Samantha Fuentes reckons with existential questions of hatred and justice as she prepares to confront her shooter.
