Oscar Documentary Short Nominees Cover a Wide Range of Topics

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticPeople make documentaries about all kinds of things: some slight and silly, others educational or emotional. But if you want to be nominated for an Oscar in the doc short category, it’s best to zero in on an issue the Academy can get behind, like homelessness, bullying and confronting prejudice.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticChances are, you landed on this review because you’re trying to game your Oscar pool, looking for a clue as to what will win the always-underseen shorts categories — in a year when they were unceremoniously booted from the telecast, no less. Well, if it’s predictions you’re looking for, there’s little contest among this year’s cartoon contenders: Academy favorite Aardman Animations has delivered a delightful frontrunner in “Robin Robin.” But don’t stop reading there! In an unusually adult-leaning year, the traditionally kid-friendly category is well worth watching in its entirety, whether in theaters or on demand, thanks to stalwart distributor ShortsTV.The program opens with “Robin Robin,” which seems poised to earn Aardman its fifth Oscar (the other four were all won by Nick Park, creator of the Wallace and Gromit characters).

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticWhat is going on over at the Academy? For years, I have questioned whether it made sense for the organization to continue awarding short films, seeing as how they are no longer a routine part of the moviegoing experience (the category dates back to a time when newsreels and short subjects regularly preceded the main attraction). Except in rare cases, when an animation studio attaches one to its latest feature-length cartoon, it’s been decades since shorts got serious theatrical play. These days, they’re relegated to film festivals and small-screen formats — so why include them in the telecast, I wondered.I was wrong.

Jay Copeland wowed the “American Idol” judges enough to nab the final Platinum Ticket on Monday’s episode.

HBO has acquired the Oscar-nominated documentary short “When We Were Bullies,” which will premiere on March 30.“When We Were Bullies” focuses on director Jay Rosenblatt (“Human Remains,” “Phantom Limb”), as he tries to track down people from his 5th grade class to interview them about a severe bullying incident that occurred at their school 50 years ago. Using a mix of archival footage, animation and modern day interviews, Rosenblatt both reconstructs the event and comes to terms with his own sense of shame about what occurred.“Everyone carries pain,” Rosenblatt narrates in the trailer for the short that HBO released. “Yet through that pain, I can see yours.”In addition to directing, Rosenblatt wrote, produced and edited “When We Were Bullies.” The short is one of five nominees in the best documentary short category at the 94th Academy Awards.

Deaf representation has taken a major step forward with two Oscar-nominated films this year — one a fictional story, the other entirely real.

Audible” have debuted a PSA in honor of Deaf History Month.“Audible” director Matthew Ogens and producer Geoff McLean have reteamed to produce a new public service announcement promoting Deaf History Month, which runs March 13 to April 15. The PSA features the documentary’s Amaree McKenstry-Hall, and deaf activist and model Nyle DiMarco, communicating through American Sign Language, explaining the documentary and Deaf History Month.“We are tough, we are strong, we are determined,” McKenstry-Hall signs in the PSA.DiMarco, who is a producer on “Audible,” adds, “There isn’t anything we can’t do, we will succeed.” “Audible” focuses on teenagers at Maryland School for the Deaf, specifically following the life of McKenstry-Hall, then a senior at the school.

Even in tragedy, there can be comedy.

Tim Gray Senior Vice President“Audible,” an Oscar nominee for documentary short, features a winning combination: great filmmaking and a great subject matter.Director Matt Ogens had been waiting for 12 years to tell the story about the Maryland School for the Deaf and their championship football team. However, he doesn’t consider it a sports documentary: “It’s a coming-of-age story and some of it is unique, some of it is universal.”However, he had trouble getting funding: “We had a lot of doors shut in our faces by people thinking there wasn’t an audience for this.”During that time, Ogens would check in regularly with people at the school when he visited his family in the Maryland-D.C.

Matt Bomer has landed a role in Bradley Cooper‘s Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorMatt Bomer will play one of Leonard Bernstein’s lovers in Bradley Cooper’s upcoming Netflix biopic about the late music giant.Multiple sources confirmed the casting opposite Cooper, who stars as the “West Side Story” composer. Cooper also co-wrote the screenplay and directs, making it his follow-up to the Oscar-winning “A Star Is Born.”Bernstein, who died in 1990 at age 72, was married to artist Felicia Montealegre and they had three children together.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In its continued bid to provide compelling artist-forward stories, WarnerMedia OneFifty has picked up the live action Oscar-nominated short “Please Hold” to stream exclusively on HBO Max where it bows on March 17.The directorial debut of Mexican-American screenwriter KD Dávila, who co-wrote the short with Levin Menekse, “Please Hold” is a darkly comic dystopian tale set in the not-so-distant future. It follows young Mateo Torres (played by Erick Lopez) who in a case of mistaken identity, is arrested by a police drone while on his way to work. He finds himself in a fully automated prison cell where he struggles to find a living human being to set things straight as his situation gets even more absurd and frustrating by the nanosecond.

Toni Braxton is morning the loss of her sister Traci. The 50-year-old entertainer died on Saturday (March 12) after a long battle with cancer. Toni and her sisters Towanda, Trina and Tamar and their mother were reportedly by Traci’s side when she passed away at her home.

Traci Braxton died at the age of 50 after a long battle with cancer on Friday (March 11), according to TMZ. The Braxton Family Values star was reportedly surround by her sisters — Toni, Towanda, Trina and Tamar — and mom when she quietly passed. Find out more about the entertainer, below.

EXCLUSIVE: BET Her and Tressa Smallwood of MegaMind Media announce their partnership on four original short films from directors Meagan Good, Naturi Naughton, Tichina Arnold, and LisaRaye McCoy, among others. Smallwood serves as executive producer.

At the Oscar Luncheon earlier this week, a young man sporting a gray suit and a dazzling smile rubbed shoulders with the likes of Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Jessica Chastain and Kristen Stewart. Unlike those luminaries, Amaree McKenstry-Hall isn’t an actor, but he is a star — of an Oscar-nominated film. A nonfiction one.

Academy Award nominees were honored at the annual Oscars luncheon on Monday, which celebrated the biggest names in this year's most-celebrated films. That meant stars like Will Smith, Denzel Washington and Bradley Cooper brushing elbows on the red carpet, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz enjoying a day date to celebrate their respective nominations, and plenty more star-studded moments.For star Marlee Matlin, this year's Oscars is a bit of a full-circle event.