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 27.
Live Action Program Guide:
“The Danish film ‘On My Mind‘ is perhaps the most sweet and poignant of the five nominees, and yet it deals with a tough subject: A man (Rasmus Hammerich) recording a karaoke version of ‘Always on My Mind’ for his wife, who is about to be removed from life support. It’s a weeper.
From there, the program gets progressively darker and more unsettling, with a Kafka-esque sci-fi parable about the unfairness of the criminal justice system (‘Please Hold‘); a drama about a sudden burst of anti-immigrant violence in Britain (‘The Long Goodbye,’ starring and co-written by Riz Ahmed); and ‘The Dress,’ a harrowing Polish tale, centering on a lonely woman with dwarfism (Anna Dzieduszycka) and an incident of date rape.
The drama ‘Ala Kachuu — Take and Run‘ picks up on the broad theme of violence against women with a shocking story, set in the Kyrgyz Republic, that spotlights the little-known practice of ala kachuu, or bride kidnapping. Its heroine is Sezim (Alina Turdumamatova), a 19-year-old student who is abducted from the capital city of Bishkek by a group of rural men — all strangers — and taken to the hinterlands to enter a forced marriage.” -The Washington Post
Rated R. The live action shorts program contains violence, including sexual assault, strong language, mature thematic elements and smoking.
LIVE ACTION SHORTS PROGRAM (Running Time: 121 minutes)
On My Mind – Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson, Denmark, 18 min.
Please Hold – K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse, USA, 19 min.
The Dress – Tadeusz Łysiak and Maciej Ślesicki, Poland, 30 min.
The Long Goodbye – Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed, UK/Netherlands, 12 min.
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run – Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger, Kyrgyzstan/Switzerland, 38 min.
