And the 2023 Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film Goes to…
Written by: Jeremy Taylor | March 7th, 2023
The Red Suitcase (Cyrus Neshvad, Luxembourg, 18 min.): An excellent short film about a 16-year-old Iranian girl who is shipped off by her father for an arranged marriage to an Iranian man living in Luxembourg. When she lands at the airport, she does everything to avoid meeting him, including removing her hijab and hiding on a bus heading out of town. It’s a superb, suspenseful story. (Winner)
Night Ride (Eirik Tveiten, Norway, 15 min.): A funny story from Norway about a female little person who asks the tram driver if she can get on, instead of waiting outside in the cold while the driver takes a bathroom break. He says no, so while he does his business, she gets on, starts the tram and pulls out with him chasing her. She picks up passengers, two of whom have a disturbing encounter. It’s another good dramatic film.
Le Pupille (Alice Rohrwacher, Italy, 37 min.): Adorable young girls at an Italian orphanage during World War II provide a challenge to the nuns caring for them. On Christmas Day, the girls turn on music. They sing and dance, but the nuns are mortified by this so they wash the girls’ tongues with soap and prevent the girls from eating a cake that was baked for them.
An Irish Goodbye (Tom Berkeley/Ross White, Ireland, 23 min.): An interesting story about estranged brothers getting together to mourn the death of their mother. One brother (who does an excellent acting job) has Down syndrome and he persuades the other brother to help him fulfill their mom’s dying wish list, which includes learning Tai Chi, smoking pot, and skydiving. This is another really well done, touching short film.
Ivalu (Pipaluk K. Jørgensen/Anders Walter, Denmark, 16 min.): This beautifully shot film (the drone shots are great) is about a girl searching for her older sister on Greenland’s ice sheets. The sister has run away from home because her father was abusing her. A raven leads the younger sister on her journey to find her missing sister.
The Academy Awards take place on March 12 this year. For information on how to watch the above short films, check out ShortsTV.
