An International Batch of Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts
Once again, ShortsTV is bringing this year’s batch of Oscar nominated Live Action, Documentary, and Animated Short Films to a global audience. Check your local theater listings to see if and when the Showcases will be playing. Here’s our rundown of the Documentary selections.
All five films are reviewed here by Erik Yates. Get an edge in your Oscar pool, and more importantly, be informed about some solid, if short, cinema that is being celebrated:
Island in Between
S. LEO CHIANG / TAIWAN, USA / 20 MINS
In the documentary Island In Between, Taiwanese-American filmmaker S. Leo Chiang documents his journey back to Taiwan from the United States, chronicling a trip with his parents to Kinmen Island. It was here that his father was stationed as a first line of defense against mainland China’s aggression towards Tiawan. The film gives a fascinating look at the residents of this island who are only 10 kilometers away from Xiamen, China. Before Covid, a ferry ran between China and Kinmen island allowing residents, and S. Leo Chiang, the chance to come to mainland China and reconnect with their families and past, while balancing the tension of being ethnic Chinese who are in conflict with the Chinese communist government. While many watching this film will be aware of China’s One China Policy that is used as a possible pretext for invading Taiwan and unifying all ethnic Chinese under one communist government, they may not be aware that Taiwan has its own vision of fighting and defeating the communist regime in China to reunite all ethnic Chinese people under a banner of democracy and freedom. Since Covid, the ferry has ceased to run and tensions have risen. The film shows however sows a common humanity over a famous Chinese song that both people in Kinmen and Taiwan, as well as mainland China, all sing. While the film mainly looks at how the population lives in the shadow of past and possible future conflicts, it offers no way forward in the current political atmosphere other than the shared humanity they possess and the desire for unity one day. Under which governmental banner, however, depends on which side you are on.
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó
SEAN WANG / USA / 16 MINS
In what is probably the funniest short documentary this year, Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó is a humorous look at filmmaker Sean Wang’s two grandmothers who are like sisters to one another. After the passing of their husbands, they live together and spend their days dancing, stretching, dressing up in costumes, and complaining about the other’s farting issues, while waxing poetically about life. Through pictures we see younger versions of themselves as they relate their respective histories and weave in their outlook on life. If anything, this may be the funniest set of grandmothers around.
The Barber of Little Rock
JOHN HOFFMAN, CHRISTINE TURNER / USA / 35 MIN
The documentary short film that resonated with me the most was The Barber of Little Rock. Arlo Washington is an African-American barber who picked up the mantle of sacred calling. Barbers over the decades have served not just as hair stylists but therapists, the people you trusted to tell things to. The gathering place of the community. They were a pillar of trust for people to go to when they needed help. Mr. Washington has taken that role and responsibility seriously. He trains a new generation of barbers. He also drove around his community noticing the effects of systemic poverty and the need for financial mobility for those who are finding it the most difficult to obtain it. He parlayed his barber shop into giving loans to those who have ideas and needs. People who have been incarcerated, put out of work, and who live in communities on the other side of the highway where no banks currently serve them. It was out of this observation that Arlo Washington started People’s Trust bank, the only bank operating to serve the community for miles. His mission is to not just help inequality and provide compassion to others. Its to build a community, and from the humble beginnings of his barber shop, he is helping to do just that.
The ABC’s of Book Banning
SHEILA NEVINS / USA / 27 MINS
The ABC’s of Book Banning tells us that those who have banned books in school districts around the country have had their say, and now this documentary is for those who haven’t been heard: the kids. This film focuses on a group of students around 10 years old who share their thoughts about the various books that have been banned, restricted, or challenged. 2500+ books to be exact. The film spends its time with the children speaking about how they long to read more challenging material, and quotes from banned, restricted, and challenged books that are trying to show that these books should never be banned. I am firmly in the no banning camp, but the problem with this film is that it makes no effort to engage the arguments being lobbed at school boards across the nation: namely that some books aren’t appropriate for certain ages in a school setting. They don’t provide a path forward for winning their argument. It pulls all of the heart strings, but in the end it will only be seen as a biased presentation, even by those of us that agree with their premise.
The Last Repair Shop
KRIS BOWERS, BEN PROUDFOOT / USA / 39 MINS
In the heart of Los Angeles lies The Last Repair Shop. This is one of the last places that fixes up musical instruments for students in a school district and gives these instruments a chance to impact a new generation of students. This film spends its time introducing you to the four main people of this repair shop who take it upon themselves to ensure that students who come from difficult backgrounds are never deprived the opportunity to discover the joy of music. Each of these four people have their own story of how music impacted their lives and spurs their mission today. There are also interviews with several students on how music has changed their lives and helped them to deal with the challenges they’ve experienced. The lesson of the repair shop is that even those things which are broken can find new purpose and meaning and these four individuals embody that message.