2019 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Documentary(2019)

Daybreak Express(en)

Set to a classic Duke Ellington recording "Daybreak Express", this is a five-minute short of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated subway station in New York City.

Paris in the Belle Epoque(de)

The Bokelberg photographic collection brings to life the Paris of the Belle Époque (1871-1914), an exhibition of workshops and stores with extremely beautiful shop windows before which the owners and their employees proudly pose, hiding behind their eyes the secret history of a great era.

La marche(fr)

Under a Bridge(ja)

In this tape, Ko Nakajima and Video Earth Tokyo interview a homeless man. The subject is initially angry and frustrated, but gradually opens up and shares stories about his life. Under A Bridge was later broadcast on cable television.

Arabian Coffee(es)

'Coffea arábiga' was sponsored as a propaganda documentary to show how to sow coffee around Havana. In fact, Guillén Landrián made a film critical of Castro, exhibited but banned as soon as the coffee plan collapsed.

Darts in the Dark: An Introduction to W.O. Mitchell(en)

Canadian author, humorist and storyteller W.O. Mitchell talks about his career as a writer and performer. Known for his witty radio and television appearances, Mitchell shows a more serious side as he reveals his personal views on writing and on the meaning of life and death.

The Thinnest Line(ca)

A fist-person story of the director of the documentary, who talks about the loneliness that entails living with an eating disorder and her vision now thar she is entering into adulthood.

Visions of Europe(en)

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

Bach and the Gap Year Program(en)

This documentary follows a group of filmmakers on a journey to capture the unique experiences of the Enlightenment Academy's gap year program in Sudbury, Ontario. The project was initiated by Bach Van Dyke, a self-proclaimed world-famous actor, director, producer, and model, who enlisted the help of a small team to bring his vision to life. Despite Van Dyke's larger-than-life persona, the documentary offers a more grounded perspective on the program and its participants. Viewers can expect to encounter a colorful cast of characters, including Dr. Raymond Cism, a social media-savvy health doctor, and the program's students, Sheen, Jake, and Butch.

A 3 Minute Hug(es)

As daylight breaks between the border cities of El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, undocumented migrants and their relatives, divided by a wall, prepare to participate in an activist event. For three minutes, they’ll embrace in no man’s land for the briefest and sweetest of reunions.

The Devil's Bridge(ky)

Life in a Kyrgyz aul (village) in the mountains connected to the rest of the world by a cable bridge, and the teenage boys who are constructing the rope of the bridge. A rope bridge which the locals call “The devil’s bridge” forms part of each and every event which takes place in a small village lost in the mountains of the Kyrgyz Republic. A platform driven by a huge winch which they have to pull with their own strength to cross the torrent is their only link with the outside world. But the director of the documentary wondered something else: “Does this bridge unite or does it actually separate?” Through the mist and over the thrashing waters, the inhabitants of the area glide along their ropes. A film, in the director’s own words, about ordinary people who live in an extraordinary place.

Cordobés 65(es)

A brief portrait of famous and brave bullfighter Manuel Benítez el Corbobés; an account on still photos of his triumphs and failures.

The Triadic Ballet(de)

A film in three parts after Oskar Schlemmer's Triadische Ballett (Triadic Ballet).

Timber Front(en)

This black-and-white archival film outlines the importance of Canada's forests in the national war effort during the Second World War.

High Cities of Bone(pt)

Karlon, born in Pedreira dos Húngaros (a slum in the outskirts of Lisbon) and a pioneer of Cape Verdean creole rap, runs away from the housing project to which he had been relocated.

Flesh(pt)

Rare, medium rare, medium, medium well and well done. Through intimate and personal stories, five women share their experiences in relation to the body, from childhood to old age.

Gay Rights(en)

Two councils with two different approaches to LGBT rights.

Scum Manifesto(fr)

Delphine Seyrig reads passages from a Valerie Solanas’s SCUM manifesto.

Fajr(ar)

In the Moroccan desert night dilutes forms and silence slides through sand. Dawn starts then to draw silhouettes of dunes while motionless figures punctuate landscape. From night´s abstraction, light returns its dimension to space and their volume to bodies. Stillness concentrates gaze and duration densify it. The adhan -muslim call to pray- sounds and immobility, that was condensing, begins to irradiate. And now the bodies are those which dissolves into the desert.

Girl in the Hallway(en)

A story from childhood and an indelible image continue to haunt Jamie many years later.