12 Days of Oscar: Day 4 - Live Action Short Film

This year's group of live shorts were fantastic.  Each film seemed to be the "one for Oscar" until you saw the next.

SHORT FILM LIVE ACTION NOMINEES

1) Asad - Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura

2) Buzkashi Boys - Sam French and Ariel Nasr

3) Curfew - Shawn Christensen

4) Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw) - Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele

5) Henry - Yan England

Each of these movies is brilliant in its own way.  Asad is the story of a boy who is steered clear of the local trouble in Somolia through fishing,  Buzkashi boys is the unlikely friendship between the son of the local blacksmith and a young street beggar in Pakistan.  Curfew reveals a twenty something man who gains a new lease on life through an impromptu babysitting gig with his niece.  Death of a Shadow  (which stars Matthew Schoenarts of Rust and Bone and Bullhead fame) tells the tale of a photographer who must photograph the shadows of the dead to regain his own life.  Henry is a look from the inside at  dementia.
Each of these films has brilliant and unique twists that are entertaining, lovely or gut wrenching.  My favorite is the lightest, I believe the Academy will chose the tragedy.

My Favorite: Curfew

My Oscar Prediction: Buzkashi Boys