The 2026 Oscar-Nominated Short Films: Major Themes, Minor Lengths

This year’s Oscar-nominated live-action shorts move from dive-bar vignettes to Regency spoofs, cross-generational friendships to dystopian science fiction, and frequently impress with their looks. In "The Singers," Sam A. Davis’s smoky cinematography frames an uplifting visit to a blue-collar bar, with overlapping conversations, voices sourced from viral videos and a striking use of Leonard Cohen’s "Closing Time." Other live-action entries include Meyer Levinson-Blount’s "Butcher’s Stain," about a Palestinian butcher (Omar Sameer) falsely accused of desecrating posters; Lee Knight’s amiable "A Friend of Dorothy," pairing Miriam Margolyes with a gentle teenager; the 12-minute cheek of Steve Pinder and Julia Aks’s "Jane Austen’s Period Drama," in which a proposal is interrupted by a period; and the longest entry, France-set "Two People Exchanging Saliva," a black-and-white, oddly mesmerizing dystopia directed by Natalie Musteata and Alexandre Singh and starring Luàna Bajrami and Zar Amir.

The documentary selections range widely.

France

oscar-nominated, short films, live action, the singers, butcher’s stain, regency spoofs, miriam margolyes, jane austen, dystopia, leonard cohen