He's making a (short)list

🏆 The 45 Shorts Moving on for Oscar®

437 films on the longlist are now 45, with 15 contenders in each of Short Animation, Documentary, and Live Action making the cut. We rushed out a post on Short of the Week minutes after the announcement on Tuesday, listing the films and linking out to their Shortverse pages, where many can be watched in their entirety. I also did some snap reactions to the lineup. Read the post for full coverage, but some highlights:

• S/W Official Selections? We have one for each category: Retirement Plan, We Were The Scenery, and Two People Exchanging Saliva.

• A total of 13 of the 45 are available to watch right now, though a few require subscriptions or are geoblocked.

• Major studios were once again shut out in Animation, solidifying a multi-year trend.

• An S/W alum, Geeta Gandbhir’s quest to win Short Doc and Feature Doc is alive!

• Despite a couple of strong contenders, none of the AI or AI-assisted films from the long list made it to the shortlist.

For convenience as you browse the lineup, we recommend our filterable Shortverse collection. For more of our Oscar Coverage on Short of the Week, click this link.

🔗 10 Things We’re Paying Attention To

1. The Oscars® Move to YouTube - The Google-owned giant struck an expansive deal with the Academy to become the new home for everything Oscar-related starting in 2029, including broadcast of the main ceremony globally. I don’t think people have taken the idea of YouTube being Netflix’s main competitor seriously enough during this WB acquisition saga, but it’s absolutely the case, and this is a savvy move from YouTube. For fans, I’m excited to see more access to things like the Science and Technical Awards and the Governor’s Ball. The underrated win here, though, is that Google Arts & Culture will work to digitize elements from the Academy Museum. They did a partnership with the National Film & Television School for its 50th anniversary, and it is very cool.

2. Creators Coalition on AI - 18 “Hollywood Insiders” as termed by THR, have banded together to create a new artist organization dedicated to navigating AI use in entertainment. The Creators Coalition on AI is “an agnostic convening organization, born from the necessity for a central hub for cross-industry discussions about how AI is impacting the entertainment industry.” Daniel Kwan, who I’m convinced will be Governor of California someday, is one of the spearheaders of the initiative, which also includes outgoing Academy president Janet Yang, as well as Natasha Lyonne and Paul Trillo of the “ethical” AI studio, Asteria, as founders. At the time of release, the organization’s mission statement had over 500 high-profile signatories. You can add your name to the list on its website.

3. Sundance’s Short Film Lineup - 54 shorts will take part in the festival’s Park City swan song next month. It’s a cool lineup, and expect more coverage from us in the coming weeks. Two of the highest-profile shorts come from S/W alums–Liza Mandelup, whose recent feature, Catepillar, was highlighted in this newsletter a couple of weeks ago, has a short doc that explores the growing fandom for the accused murderer, Luigi Mangione. We saw an early cut of the film, and it is excellent. Also, Ben Proudfoot is back, with a new co-director, basketball superstar Stephen Curry! Their film, The Baddest Speechwriter of All, profiles MLK Jr’s former lawyer and speechwriter. Reminder, you can purchase a pass to watch the Sundance shorts from home—use the code 2026YULESUN to get 20% off from now until Dec. 26th.

4. Submit to Sundance Ignite Fellowship - Sundance and Adobe’s fellowship for young filmmakers (18-25) is accepting submissions. A whole bunch of S/W alums have come through the program and raved about it—it’s a great entryway into the powerful Sundance ecosystem.

5. LIFE - A Short Film by Jafar Panahi - Panahi is one of the great masters of world cinema, and all signs point to his latest feature, It Was Just an Accident, being a heavyweight contender this awards season. Neon is releasing that film, and has made available worldwide this 20-minute 2021 short from the director that was originally an installment in the COVID-19 short film anthology, The Year of the Everlasting Storm.

6. Vimeo Celebrates Their Best of 2025 - A typically solid list from the curators at Vimeo, who released a 10-best list for videos, brand videos, and “breakthrough creators.” You can watch the teaser video and view the lists on the Vimeo Watch page. Unfortunately, European fans can’t see that page, so we put together Shortverse collections for Best Videos and Breakthrough Creators if you’re curious who made the lists.

7. Short Film Spotlight in Indiewire - Whether I agree or disagree with his takes, David Erlich is one of my favorite film critics and writers, so I took notice when he took to Indiewire to extoll the virtues of this 5min short animation from artist Lauren Tsai. What do you think of the film? Read the piece and leave a comment on its Shortverse page.

8. Watch SHOWstudio’s 25th Anniversary Film, Made with Rayban Meta Glasses - He’s probably not a household name, but Nick Knight is one of the most influential image makers of our era and a giant of fashion filmmaking. I’ve long been an admirer of the work that comes out of his SHOWstudio, and the latest piece, Naturally, is emblematic of his work—gorgeous, ethereal, and grounded in interesting technological exploration. Check it out on the website, which has a short BTS film accompaniment. Congrats on 25 years!

9. S/W Alum Found Guilty of Scamming Netflix - Over a decade ago, Carl Erik Rinsch had one of the buzziest sci-fi proof-of-concept shorts around with The Gift. That opened the door to Hollywood, where he directed the Keanu Reeves vehicle, 47 Ronin. Sadly, a proposed Netflix series went horribly off the rails, which was detailed in a viral NyTimes article we shared in late 2023. Now the ordeal finds a sorrowful end with his conviction in court.

10. What To Watch This Weekend - Elizabeth Lo is a two-time S/W-selected filmmaker and one of Documentary filmmaking’s brightest young lights. Her latest feature, Mistress Dispeller, just made the short list in the feature doc Oscar® category, and is getting a push from its distributor, Oscilloscope, based on the news, with a fresh engagement here in New York at DCTV. If you can find a way to see it, we recommend you do so!

🪐 Into the Shortverse

🎄 Films that Sleigh: Christmas Shorts

A jovial mix of films connected to Christmas—some somber, some heartfelt, some zany. Merry Christmas all!

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