The 2022 Academy Awards have arrived, and while most mainstream audiences will be anxiously awaiting to see what films win the big awards like Best Picture or Best Actor and Actress, true dyed-in-the-wool film aficionados will also be looking in the margins at small categories like Best Short Film.
CinemaSavannah has been curating independent arthouse screenings since 2008, and over the years the annual Oscar Shorts screening has become one of its most popular events.
“It has established its tradition and people look forward to it,” said CinemaSavannah founder Tomasz Warchol.
Warchol pointed out that since the pandemic began it may have become easier to view new feature films online or on streaming platforms, but short films remain more difficult to find. But, even if one can dig up the Oscar nominated shorts online, there is nothing like experiencing them on the big screen with a theater full of fellow film buffs.
Credit: NBC News
Credit: NBC News
“It’s fun to have a larger group of people watching five or six films and commenting on each of them and exchanging their impressions,” said Warchol. “There is more participation than your regular feature film.”
Shorts films carry a special appeal because they exist outside of the mainstream and allow audiences to experience unique stories from international and independent filmmakers.
As Warchol had stated in a previous interview, “This is cinema that operates outside big film industry. It's authentic and committed, driven by real issues, important causes, and artistic passions. These are films, especially the live action and docs, that don't make money but needed to be made.”
CinemaSavannah has always been nomadic, hosting screenings at a variety of venues. Most recently Warchol has been hosting films at the Gingerbread House next door to Foxy Loxy, but he looks forward to returning to the newly renovated Savannah Cultural Arts Center for the 7th annual Oscar Nominated Shorts screening.
“It will be a true theater experience,” said Warchol.
Credit: Courtesy of the Savannah Department of Cultural Resources
Credit: Courtesy of the Savannah Department of Cultural Resources
Cinema Savannah is presenting four films from the Oscar Nominated Shorts short-list.
"Audible" (USA, 39 min.) directed by Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean, is a coming of age documentary that follows a Maryland School for the Deaf high school football player and his friends as they grapple with the pressures of senior year and the realities of entering the hearing world after graduation.
"Three Songs for Benazir" (Afghanistan, 22 min.), directed by Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei, is a documentary that follows the story of a young, newly married couple living in a displacement camp in Kabul. The couple struggle to balance the responsibilities of raising a family with the husband’s dream of being the first from his tribe to join the Afghan National Army.
"Lead Me Home" (USA, 39 min.), directed by Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk, is a documentary that captures the experience of homelessness in America from multiple perspectives.
"The Queen of Basketball" (USA, 22 min.), directed by Ben Proudfoot, is about Lucy Harris, one of the greatest woman basketball players in history, who scored the first basket in Women’s Basketball at the 1976 Olympics, and was drafted into the NBA.
Keep an eye out for future events as CinemaSavannah will return on March 11 with Joachim Triers’ "The Worst Person in the World," a winner of over 20 international awards, and a 2022 double Oscar nominee.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: CinemaSavannah shares 2022 Academy Award-nominated short films on the big screening
The Latest
Featured
