Short movies nominated for Oscar 2026 - Live Action

What would happen if you squeezed five films into one evening, after which you wouldn't want to leave the cinema? A butcher accused simply because he is different. An old woman waiting for death — and instead, a soccer ball and a seventeen-year-old boy arrive. An Englishwoman from 1813, whose body chooses the least convenient moment in life for her period. A world where kissing is a criminal offense, or a pub evening where a penniless man pays with a song — and suddenly the whole bar is amazed at what the others have been carrying inside them all along. Five films from five different corners of the world, nominated for Oscars — but above all, five proofs that a shorter story can strike more accurately, more deeply, and more painfully than anything you've seen in the cinema this year.

THE SINGERS (USA)

Director: Sam A. Davis | Producers: Jack Piatt, David Breschel, Charlie Cohen, Sam A. Davis |

Star: Mike Young, Chris Smither, Will Harrington, Judah Kelly, Matthew

Corcoran |

Year: 2025 | Length: 18 min | Live Action |

The Singers is a short film adaptation of a 19th-century short story written by Ivan Turgenev, in which a lowly pub full of downtrodden patrons connect unexpectedly through an impromptu sing-off.

A FRIEND OF DOROTHY (UK)

Director: Lee Knight | Producers: James Dean, Scottie Fotré, Max Marlow |

Star: Alistair Nwachukwu, Oscar Lloyd, Stephen Fry |

Year: 2025 | Length: 21 min | Live Action |

Dorothy  is a lonely widow whose body is failing, but her mind remains as bright as ever. When 17-year-old JJ accidentally kicks his football into her garden, he upends Dorothy’s daily routine of pills, prunes and crosswords, and an unlikely friendship blossoms. Despite being worlds apart in every way, the two come to find they have more in common than they could ever imagine.

BUTCHER'S STAIN (Israel)

Director: Meyer Levinson-Blount | Producers: Oron Caspi, Maya Dreifuss |

Star: Omar Sameer, Meyer Levinson-Blount, Rona Toledano |

Year: 2025 | Length: 26 min | Live Action |

Samir, an Arab Israeli working in a supermarket in Tel Aviv, is accused of tearing down hostage posters in the break room. He sets out to prove his innocence to keep this job that he desperately needs.

TWO PEOPLE EXCHANGING SALIVA (France, USA)

Directors: Natalie Musteata, Alexandre Singh | Producers: Carol Cohen, Violeta Kreimer, Valentina Merli, Natalie Musteata, Alexandre Singh |

Star: Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Luàna Bajrami, Vicky Krieps |

Year: 2024 | Length: 36 min | Live Action |

In a society where kissing is punishable by death, and people pay for things by receiving slaps to the face. Angine, an unhappy woman, shops compulsively in a department store. There, she becomes fascinated by a playful salesgirl. Despite the prohibition of kissing, the two become close, raising the suspicions of a jealous colleague.

JANE AUSTEN'S PERIOD DRAMA (USA)

Director: Julia Aks, Steve Pinder | Producer: Elli Legerski |

Star: Julia Aks, Ta'imua, Samantha Smart |

Year: 2024 | Length: 13 min | Live Action |

England, 1813. In the middle of a long-awaited marriage proposal, Miss Estrogenia Talbot gets her period. Her suitor, Mr. Dickley, mistakes the blood for an injury, and it soon becomes clear that his expensive education has missed a spot.