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 2.
2025 DOCUMENTARY OSCAR SHORTS PROGRAM LINEUP (Runtime: 165 minutes)
Instruments of a Beating Heart – Ema Ryan Yamazaki, 23 min., Japan (in Japanese)
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 – Bill Morrison, 30 min., USA (in English)
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 narratve begins to take shape in the aftermath.
I Am Ready, Warden – Smriti Mundhra, 37 min., USA (in English)
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 – Molly O’Brien, 35 min., USA (in English)
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 – Kim A. Snyder, 36 min., USA (in English)
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.
