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This episode marks the last of our Oscar winning short film director interviews and features Sarah chat with Molly O’Brien, who joined Dn a couple weeks before the Academy Awards to take us inside her move from producer to director for her Netflix acquired documentary short The Only Girl in the Orchestra, which follows the trailblazing career of musician Orin O’Brien and her beloved double basses as the first female musician in the New York Philharmonic orchestra.

[Watch/Read the full interview]

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https://archive.org/download/dn389theonlygirlintheorchestramollyobrien/DN389TheOnlyGirlInTheOrchestraMollyOBrien.mp3...

Miles and Keiko O’Brien must be incredibly proud and perhaps just a tad confused as well. That’s because Molly O’Brien, their daughter, won an Academy Award a couple of weeks ago. We kid you not! The night’s winners during the 97th Academy Awards ceremony not only included Mikey Madison, Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin, and Zoe Saldana -- who plays Uhura in the Kelvin Timeline Star Trek movies -- but Molly O’Brien, who shared the award for Documentary Short Film with Lisa Remington.

O’Brien and Remington took home golden statuettes for The Only Girl in the Orchestra, which, according to Netflix, “celebrates trailblazing double bassist Orin O’Brien, the first woman to become a full-time member of the New York Philharmonic.” Molly O’Brien directed The Only Girl in the Orchestra and produced it along with Remington. The 35-minute short, which is available now on Netflix, previously...

What a speech Zoe Saldaña gave at the 97th annual Academy Awards. Her words and reaction were close to the kind that Halle Berry gave for winning Best Featured Actress at the 74th annual awards in 2002. Both were emotional, sure, but both were also filled with joy and thanks.

Unfortunately, though Netflix came into the Oscars with 18 nominations, the studio won just three. The night belonged to Anora and The Brutalist. Even Wicked could not compete with the fervor of those other two films. Netflix's musical Emilia Pérez had 13 nominations but won just twice. Those trophies went to Saldaña and "El Mal" for Best Song.

The other victory for Netflix was for Best Documentary (Short Subject) for The Only Girl in the Orchestra. This is the story of Orin O'Brien, the first woman to become a full-time member of the New York Philharmonic. This happened in 1966. The doc is fantastic,...

To be a first in any creative field is sometimes a heavy burden. But in the Academy Award-winning documentary short The Only Girl in the Orchestra, Orin O’Brien reveals that the intensity and joy of an artist’s craft can keep the candle of passion lit for a lifetime. O’Brien, a double bassist, joined the all-male New York Philharmonic in 1966, under the direction of the mythic ; she recently retired in 2021 after 55 years. The Only Girl in the Orchestra, directed by her niece, the Emmy-Award winning Molly O’Brien (American High), follows the trailblazer as she winds down an incredible career, one that’s inspired every generation of talent since. In her story, we see a lesson in how the deep love of music can produce an irrepressible brand of magic.

In the film — executive-produced by Errol Morris, the revered Academy Award-winning director behind docs The Thin Blue Line...

Running five minutes longer than “Wicked” — and still nearly an hour below “The Brutalist” — the “2025 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary” package makes for a heavy evening at the movies. Bodycam evidence of police brutality, raw survivor reactions to school shootings, a deep dive into the death penalty and so on. Shorts International’s annual round-up is essential viewing for those determined either to win their Oscar pool or to keep up with what the Academy considers the year’s best nonfiction work. But it’s not an easy watch, and though the finalists all seem “worthy” enough, one can’t help but crave a little levity.

Nothing new there. This award (which differs from the feature-length categories in that the nominees weren’t made for the big screen) often downplays formal innovation in favor of the underlying issues addressed by the finalists. That makes the first nominee, the New...

She caused a sensation in 1966 when she joined the New York Phil and its 103 male musicians. Now the double bassist is the star of The Only Girl in the Orchestra, a documentary nominated for an Academy Award

One of the most fascinating, inspirational and talented creatives nominated for an Oscar this year will not be at the ceremony on 2 March. “Oh, I’m not going. No, no, no. I’ll be 90 in June, my dear,” says Orin O’Brien, double bassist and the star of nominated short documentary The Only Girl in the Orchestra. “That’s no excuse,” I tell her. Over Zoom, she looks and sounds more than capable of flying the plane there herself. “No. You couldn’t get me on a plane these days. People are so badly behaved. I’m staying here in my nice apartment in New York. I will cook dinner for my friends in the orchestra.

While the numerous Oscar precursors have given us an idea of what might be out front for the big prize in many categories, the same can’t be said for the short-film categories. With hardly any precursors to use, if any, these can be the most tricky categories to forecast ahead of Oscar night. Audiences will soon get to view these nominees for themselves when ShortsTV presents the nominated categories in theaters nationwide starting on Friday (see where they’re playing and how to get tickets). But which shorts might be the ones to beat in these three categories? Here’s our analysis of the short film categories for the 97th Academy Awards.

Live Action Short Frontrunner: “A Lien”

Synopsis: A young couple faces up to and deals with a dangerous immigration process.

Set during President Donald Trump‘s first term, the immigration tragedy is an emotional gut punch that...

You’ll find two of the finest films nominated for an Oscar this year in this category. One, “Incident,” which is stitched together from body-cam videos and other footage that captured the 2018 shooting of Harith Augustus in Chicago, is a less esoteric work than you might expect from director Bill Morrison, but it locates political resonances within that footage that make it as powerful as Dawson City: Frozen Time. By the time Morrison juxtaposes the different video feeds on the screen at the same time, he’s already presented a horrifyingly unambiguous picture of the racial bias that informs police shootings of Black suspects.

No less provocative is Smriti Mundhra’s “I’m Ready, Warden,” about the redemption that convicted murderer John Henry Ramirez seeks ahead of his execution by the state of Texas. The film empathizes with the regret felt by Ramirez, but it’s most powerful for the way it sits,...

Director Smriti Mundhra’s Muslim Matchmaker premieres on Hulu today, a show that might be described as a sibling docuseries to her Netflix hits Indian Matchmaking and Jewish Matchmaking.

But that’s not all Mundhra has going on, by any means. She directs one of the episodes of the upcoming HBO documentary series Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977-2015 and – a big and – she goes for an Oscar on March 2 for her short film I Am Ready, Warden, from MTV Documentary Films.

On the new episode of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, Mundhra takes us inside the making of I Am Ready, Warden, which documents the final days of Texas death row inmate John Henry Ramirez. Mundhra interviewed the condemned man, captured the last conversation between Ramirez and his young son Izzy and – just as remarkably – revealed the emotional angst of Aaron Castro,...

Little films are a very big deal at this year’s Academy Awards. Topics as heavy as Ptsd, ethnic cleansing and the immigration system, and as light as music, kissing and children with a passion to perform are all vying for the short film Oscars. Here’s a look at the nominees in the documentary shorts, animated shorts and live-action shorts categories.

Documentary Shorts

The proliferation of platforms distributing short subject documentaries in recent years has led to an abundance of high-quality films that pack a punch. This year’s five nominated short nonfiction docs stand out for their impactful and exquisite storytelling.

It’s anyone’s guess as to what film will take home The Little Gold Man, but if previous award season wins mean anything, Bill Morrison’s “Incident” could be a frontrunner. Told using police surveillance footage, Morrison offers a raw look at the Chicago police shooting of a Black man.

Reluctant not only to have the spotlight on her but to be heralded as a trailblazing woman, Orin O’Brien is the fabulous prodigious world-renowned double bassist who sits at the heart of Oscar nominated documentary short The Only Girl in the Orchestra from producer turned director Molly O’Brien. Their shared surname is no coincidence with Orin’s niece and filmmaker Molly having to bide her time for over a decade before finally arriving at the right confluence of events to re-introduce the idea of a film about her life to Orin which she accepted…under certain conditions. The Only Girl in the Orchestra, streaming now on Netflix, not only manages to enchantingly portray Orin’s career beginnings as the first female musician in the New York Philharmonic but also captures her true ‘joie de vivre’. Molly, working in essential collaboration not only with her aunt but her entire team, takes...

Updated: Jan. 17, 2025

Now that the shortlists have been unveiled for the impending 97th Academy Awards, it’s time to start figuring out which movies will actually be nominated. Nowhere is this more difficult than in the three short-film categories. But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Below you’ll find the 15 semifinalists in the Best Documentary Short category along with descriptions and embedded videos and/or links where available.

Some of the topics included in this year’s crop are the kangaroo-harvesting industry in Australia, a family weighing whether or not to pursue being cryonically frozen, a death row inmate seeking to make some sort of peace in his life before his execution, a trans lawmaker in Montana fighting anti-trans legislation, and how the children of Ukraine are coping living in a war zone.

Here is your 2025 Oscars Best Documentary Short cheat sheet, ranked based on Gold Derby...

Doc Short Contenders Give Voters Plenty to Ponder

The 15 films that made the shortlist in the Oscars’ documentary short category are all powerful and thought-provoking, making the competition for an Academy Award nod incredibly stiff this year.

Leading the charge are “Incident,” “The Only Girl in the Orchestra,” “The Quilters,” “Death by Numbers” and “Keepers.”

The first 89 seconds of Bill Morrison’s police brutality doc “Incident” is silent. Security footage captures a street in Chicago on a July afternoon in 2018. Minutes later, a man is dead. Through a series of recordings of CCTV and police bodycam footage captured from different vantage points, Morrison offers a raw look at the Chicago police shooting of a Black man. The 29-minute New Yorker film won the best short documentary award at the 2023 IDA Documentary Awards and garnered a spot on the influential Doc NYC shortlist earlier this year.

Netflix’s “The Only Girl...

When she first joined the New York Philharmonic Orchestra back in 1966, Orin O’Brien had to get changed in the toilets because there was no women’s dressing room.

She might not have made it at all if it were not for the support of Leonard Bernstein. Her attraction to playing in that context stemmed partly from her preference for being in the background, working together with other musicians to create something bigger, so she was not a natural trailblazer. Together with her niece Molly O’Brien, who directed this Oscar-shortlisted short documentary, she looks back through press clippings from the time. Many words are spent describing her clothes, her looks, her imagined love life and domestic ambitions – and, of course, comparing her curves with those of her double bass. There’s barely a word about her musical talent.

The daughter of movie stars, Orin was not entirely unprepared for that kind of.

The Netflix December 2024 originals, movies, and TV series have been revealed and can be viewed below. The streaming service has also announced the list of movies and TV series leaving next month.

The December schedule features such titles as The Dragon Prince Season 7, Jentry Chau vs the Underworld, Maria, Mary, No Good Deed, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Polo, and Queer Eye Season 9.

Squid Game Season 2

Also coming are Squid Game Season 2, The Great British Baking Show: Holidays Season 7, The Six Triple Eight, The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On Season 3, That Christmas, and Virgin River Season 6.

The lineup includes the comedy specials Fortune Feimster: Crushing It, Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…, Michelle Buteau: A Buteau-ful Mind at Radio City Music Hall, Ronny Chieng: Love To Hate It, and Your Friend Nate Bargatze. Netflix will also stream two NFL games and the A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter special.

"Orin is one of the boys." Netflix has revealed a quick clip trailer for a documentary film called The Only Girl in the Orchestra, made by filmmaker Molly O'Brien. This 34-minute short film originally premiered at the 2023 Doc NYC Film Festival last year. It's getting a global release on Netflix starting in December. Trailblazing double bassist Orin O'Brien was never one to seek the spotlight, but when Leonard Bernstein hired her in 1966 as the first female musician in the New York Philharmonic, she inevitably became the focus of media attention and, ultimately, one of the most renowned musicians of a generation. Remarkable. Somehow this story didn't make it into Bradley Cooper's Maestro film about Leonard Bernstein though it should've been in there. It's also shocking / amazing that even in 1966 there was not a single woman in the entire NY Philharmonic orchestra aside from her. Glad it's not like this anymore,...

Exclusive: Netflix has lined up a blockbuster slate of short documentaries heading into Oscar season, including the latest from two-time Academy Award winner Ben Proudfoot in collaboration with the Obamas’ production company.

The streamer announced four acquisitions today, beginning with The Turnaround, directed by Kyle Thrash and Proudfoot, a documentary that “tells the story of Philadelphia Phillies’ superfan Jon McCann, who helped inspire an unlikely 2023 standing ovation for Phillies shortstop Trea Turner, which helped turn the team around after hitting a major roadblock.”.

As Deadline reported in late August, Higher Ground, the production company founded by former Pres. Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, came aboard The Turnaround. Higher Ground produces, along with Proudfoot’s Breakwater Studios, Cookie Jar & A...