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Today is the last post of the week and the last of the smaller categories in my Year in Review. If you missed any of the other posts, please be sure to check them out at the links below.
For this post, I’m not separating short films into smaller categories but including everything in one: live action narrative, documentary, and animated. So, without further ado, let’s get into the top five short films I saw this year. If you're interested in watching them for yourself, the movie titles link to the films except "Boxballet" which is just the trailer.  5: Boxballet This fun animated short film was one of five nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the Oscars earlier this year. It is a brief love story, a bit reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast, between a hulking boxer and a dainty ballerina. The visual style is so different from what we normally see in animation, and that’s what made it one of my favorites I saw this year.  4: The Queen of Basketball Let me tell you, I loved meeting Lusia Harris in this film. Harris is the star of this short documentary that won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject this year and even in her 60s, she was a vibrant personality in the interview portions of this film. Chronicling her college basketball career during which she won three national championships and a silver medal at the Olympics. She would go on to become the first African American woman inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Sadly, Harris passed away in January 2022 just a few months before this film received its Oscar.  3: Robin Robin Another animated short film that was nominated for Best Animated Short Film earlier this year, “Robin Robin” is so much fun and I’ve watched it several times with my kids and when I went to the theater to see the full slate of animated short film nominees. he film is stop-motion animation, and features voice talents of Richard E. Grant and Gillian Anderson, but the true star is Robin, the young robin who grew up in a family of mice. She makes a terrible mouse (mainly because she’s a bird) but tries to prove to her mouse family that she belongs by sneaking into the Who-Man house at Christmas to steal the star from the top of their tree. Fire this one up on Netflix this holiday season to kick off your next movie night.  2: Audible This film actually lost out to “The Queen of Basketball” in the Best Documentary Short Subject at the Oscars this year, but I put it slightly ahead on my own list. This one is just on the limit for consideration in that category, but looks at the story of Amaree McKenstry-Hall, a deaf football player at the Maryland School for the Deaf as he and his teammates and friends deal with the pressures of performing on the field, while mourning the loss of a close friend to suicide. Any one part of that description could make a great film on its own but putting them all together and in a short film is truly amazing and fully deserving of the nomination it received.  1: Lynching Postcards: ‘Token of A Great Day’
Just like last year, my top film on this list is extremely difficult to watch, but for completely different reasons. “Lynching Postcards” is a tight 15 minutes but speaks volumes in how it covers its subject matter. The film documents the history of “lynching postcards,” small souvenirs people could send to relatives and friends to celebrate their role in or attendance at public lynchings of African Americans throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s. I sat and watched this film in disgust, amazed at the cruelty that could lead people to do these things in the name of hate and fear, but was forced to draw a line straight to the social media of today. While it is an incredibly difficult film to watch, it is necessary, and I highly recommend anyone taking some time to watch for themselves.
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AuthorI'm just a film buff who wants to watch great movies. Where else to find the best, than the list of those nominated by the Academy each year? Archives
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