2025 Oscars • 97th Academy Awards • Short Shortlists Watchlist

As the Ukraine war moves into its third year, a surprising story of resilience: how children in Ukraine are surviving the Russian war machine that has targeted them and their families. With creativity and imagination they have transformed backyards and playgrounds destroyed by missiles, invented fairy tales where vegetable armies vanquish Russian attackers, and carried on the Ukrainian tradition of music and dance in bombed out studios. Life behind the frontlines as seen through the eyes of the children who will inherit a country struggling to survive a brutal invasion.

After witnessing a devastating oil spill, a man takes a vow of silence and gives up motorized transport, embarking on a 17-year journey across the US to raise awareness about environmental issues, armed only with a banjo and his principles

In this short documentary, inmates at a maximum-security prison in Missouri sew custom quilts for children in the adoption waiting list.

A short documentary goes behind the scenes with the state representative from Montana as she made international news fighting for trans medical care-and making a momentous decision in her own life.

A SWIM LESSON is an ode to an everyday hero: Bill Marsh, a swim teacher who helps children manage their fears and discover their own power when submerged in an overwhelming unknown.

After learning that his son, Yahya, has died at sea trying to get to Spain, Ahmed Tchiche must find a way to bring his remains back to Morocco so he and his family can have a proper goodbye. A Spanish mortician, an NGO worker and an established Moroccan immigrant living in Spain all struggle to help Ahmed get his son's body home.

Three rebellious teenage daughters, a restless mother, a father struggling with potatoes, and maybe some elephants, find themselves in Nairobi. What could possibly go wrong?

Leo and Diana, a rich couple, bring a broken TV to a recycle point. They meet Salif and his son, two scrap dealers. Diana asks them to come to their house to get more objects.

After the Nazi's invade the Netherlands, Jewish ice cream parlor owner, Ernst Cahn, is targeted by the "Butcher of Lyon" Klaus Barbie. "The Ice Cream Man" must choose between resistance & death. Based on actual events.

Set in 1961, during the height of the US-Soviet space race, an ambitious USAF test pilot is recruited by NASA for a daring suborbital mission in an X-15 hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft with astronomical implications.

With the sea and the urban Algarve as a background, we follow a complete cycle of the life of a special shellfish called PERCEBES, goose barnacle. From their formation, to the dish, in this journey, we cross different contexts that allow us to better understand this region and those who live there.

A musical odyssey about the retreat of humanity into itself.

A short film honoring the 21 Coptic men martyred by ISIS in Libya in 2015, produced in the style of Coptic iconography by a global team of more than 70 artists from more than 24 countries. The film is narrated in English, with Arabic dialogue. Subtitles have been produced in English, Arabic, French, Spanish and Russian.

A lonely priest's housekeeper encounters a young Irish girl of exceptional promise.

Mohammed, a young Palestinian, is desperately looking for a taxi to take him through an Israeli checkpoint. The driver, Farouk, discovers that Mohammed has already failed to cross the checkpoint. Trouble begins.

The story of Edinburgh Zoo's famous bear, Wojtek. A BEAR NAMED WOJTEK tells the fantastic journey of an orphaned Syrian brown bear brought to Edinburgh, having been previously adopted by Polish soldiers during World War II.

On New Year's Eve in 1944, two men meet in the middle of a snowstorm in a cottage cut off from civilization - a widower, Petr Bernat, and an SS officer, Konrad Neumann. The only thing the two men have in common is their Sudeten origins. At first, their conversation revolves around mundane topics, but as midnight approaches, they begin to address more pressing issues. A tragic past is revealed and it becomes clear that tonight will be a fateful night for Bernat and Neumann.

A stop motion animated short film about the darkness of addiction and the strength of family.

Despite the world's disasters, an artist insists on playing. A story inspired by Bach's immortal music and painted onto toilet paper rolls as a tribute to the tradition of painting directly on 35mm film.

Confined to a seaside prison in Venice, women's final moments before release are explored.

An investigation into the harvesting of kangaroos in Australia.

A Bronx beekeeper and his daughter care for their hives, and each other, in the wake of a life-threatening cancer diagnosis.