The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2012: Live Action
ShortsHD is once again bringing the wildly popular Oscar nominated short film program (Live Action, Animation, and Documentary) to theaters in the US, Canada, and Europe beginning February 10th.
Terry George
Peter McDonald
Andrew Bowler
Hallvar Witzo
Max Zähle
Also Directed by Terry George
Two fathers' lives intersect when one of them is involved in a terrible and sudden hit-and-run car accident that leaves the other's son dead. In response, the two men react in unexpected ways as a reckoning looms in the near future.
Something in his past keeps career Army man John Paul Vann from advancing past colonel. He views being sent to Vietnam as part of the US military advisory force a stepping stone to promotion. However, he disagrees vocally (and on the record) with the way the war is being run and is forced to leave the military. Returning to Vietnam as a civilian working with the Army, he comes to despise some South Vietnamese officers while he takes charge of some of the U.S. forces and continues his liaisons with Vietnamese women.
Set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, a love triangle develops between Mikael, a brilliant medical student, the beautiful and sophisticated artist Ana, and Chris, a renowned American journalist based in Paris.
Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.
Based on the true story of the 1981 hunger strike in a British prison, in which IRA prisoner Bobby Sands led a protest against the treatment of IRA prisoners as criminals rather than as prisoners of war. The film focuses on the mothers of two of the strikers, and their struggle to save the lives of their sons.
The story of Joe and Paddy, whose childhood friendship is shattered by the troubles in Northern Ireland. Twenty five years later they are reunited.
In a misguided attempt to protect his family and pay back gambling debts to the local Mobster, Jimbo robs a fish market, which is coincidentally owned by the same Mobster. On the run, Jimbo is cornered in a local curio shop, where he takes hostage an assortment of colourful characters, including a man who may be his illegitimate father. Surrounded by the Police, the SAS and the Mobster's crew, the young man must find a way out of his precarious predicament with the help of his oddball captives.
Also Directed by Peter McDonald
Ireland 1977. Eleven-year-old Damian Lynch (Scott Graham) is called in at the last moment to serve as an altar boy at an important mass in his local parish. Following his last appearance as an altar boy when he knocked Father O'Toole off the altar, Damien is serving a 3 month ban from his only passion in life...football. To make matters worse, Damian's team, Liverpool FC, are playing in their first European cup final in two weeks time. Damien's father (Michael McElhatton) offers him a reprieve and crucially a chance to see the European cup final if he serves the mass correctly. Damien now faces a choice: either conform to the status quo or never watch his beloved Liverpool play again...
Also Directed by Andrew Bowler
Stillman, a heartbroken physics student, builds a time machine when his girlfriend breaks up with him. Going back in time, he attempts to save their relationship by fixing every mistake he made—while dragging his best friend along in the process.
A neurotic inventor creates a time machine and gets lost traveling around yesterday.
Also Directed by Max Zähle
After 13 years, Sonja and Marc have separated. The love was lost to them like other people a stick or hat. To sell their weekend home, the two embark on a final trip together. Along the way, they realize that by far not all is said and that they still feel connected to each other - despite all the injuries and blame. When the planned sale is delayed, they have to spend the night in their house. It is their last chance to find answers to all the questions that are better asked late than never.
Thiel has to track down a murderer after Boerne had a car accident, which let him fall into a coma.
A German couple adopts in Kolkata an Indian orphan. Their child suddenly disappears and they realize that they are part of the problem.
Mirko Talhammer is beyond himself when two strange guys show up in his noble insurance office and remind him where he really comes from: from a scrapyard in the provinces, where careers are not what counts, other things are more important: scrapping things, the family, and every once in a while, a nice fist fight. Mirko left all that behind, but his father messes things up big time when he dies and leaves his son the run down scrapyard - together with his brother Letscho. And Letscho is still ticked off that Mirko deserted the clan. But soon the brothers realize that the Talhammers only have a future if they can pull themselves together and fulfill their father's last wish: to rob a train like real professionals! The coup itself is like a suicide mission, but then Kercher, the Talhammer's biggest nemesis, gets wind of things...
A short comedy directed by Max Zähle.