10 live action shorts advance in 2015 Oscar race

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 10 live action short films will advance in the voting process for the 88th Academy Awards. One hundred forty-four pictures had originally qualified in the category.

Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting.

Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist. Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, London, New York and San Francisco in December.

The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at 5:30 a.m. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

Ave Maria, Basil Khalil, director, and Eric Dupont, producer (Incognito Films)

Bad Hunter, Sahim Omar Kalifa, director, and Dries Phlypo, producer (A Private View)

Bis Gleich (Till Then), Philippe Brenninkmeyer, producer, and Tara Lynn Orr, writer (avenueROAD Films)

Contrapelo (Against the Grain), Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, director, and Pin-Chun Liu, producer (Ochenta y Cinco Films)

Day One, Henry Hughes, director (American Film Institute)

Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut), Patrick Vollrath, director (Filmakademie Wien)

The Free Man (Zi You Ren), Quah Boon-Lip, director (Taipei National University of the Arts)

Shok, Jamie Donoughue, director (Eagle Eye Films)

Stutterer, Benjamin Cleary, director (Bare Golly Films)

Winter Light, Julian Higgins, director, and Josh Pence, producer (Innerlight Films and Prelude Pictures)