Oscar-Qualified Live Action Short Films for the 99th Academy Awards

Qualifying window: 1 October 2025–30 September 2026

Last updated: 8 September 2026

A complete alphabetical guide to the Oscar-qualified live action short films currently confirmed for the 99th Academy Awards, including synopses, runtimes, qualification paths and official links where publicly available.

Curated and maintained by Miralot, the film festival submission platform. Match your film against 5,500+ curated festival competitions and submit with one click. 20 matches every month, free, no credit card required.

If you link to this list or use the data, please credit Miralot with a link back to this page.

For corrections, additions, or press inquiries, please contact hello@miralot.com.

Current count: 120 films

All 120 Oscar-Qualified Live Action Short Films (alphabetical order)

0,∞

Mar Sudac · USA · 11 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Married couple Gus and Clark apply for a mortgage but must first undergo a newly mandatory test that certifies sexuality for legal purposes. Its brutal result forces them to question attraction in a world determined to reduce identity to a binary.

🏆 Qualified through
Ann Arbor Film Festival 2026 · Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative Film

https://www.instagram.com/zeroinfinityfilm/

32B

Mohamed Taher · Egypt

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

When a clueless single father learns that his teenage daughter needs her first bra, an ordinary shopping trip becomes a painfully awkward test of parenthood and communication.

🏆 Qualified through
Tribeca 2026 · Best Narrative Short

Festival Page

Agachar el rostro (Lowering the Gaze)

Camilo Medina Noy · Colombia · 12 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Surrounded by fog and crumbling walls, a teacher faces his last day at a rural school that must close for lack of pupils, and prepares to leave a place that has long been both his work and his home.

🏆 Qualified through
BOGOSHORTS 2025 · Santa Lucía for Best Fiction, National Competition

Festival Page

Agapito

Arvin Belarmino, Kyla Danelle Romero · Philippines / France · 15 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED 2× QUALIFIER

On the last day of the month in a fading duckpin bowling alley, pin setters rehearse a song-and-dance routine while manager Mira closes early and waits for a special visitor.

🏆 Qualified through
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival 2026 · Golden Reel Award for Best Narrative Short
IN THE PALACE International Short Film Festival 2026 · Best Short Fiction

Film Page

Agnès

Nora Arnezeder · France / USA

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Agnès, a young French actress trying to establish herself in Los Angeles, makes a quick stop at a supermarket before an audition and encounters the reality of American gun violence.

🏆 Qualified through
Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2026 · Best Live Action Short Film

Film Page

Anatomy of a Portrait (Anatomía de un retrato)

Juan Felipe León · Colombia · 23 min

LIVE ACTION HYBRID FICTION / DOCUMENTARY OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A woman in rural Colombia plans to donate her body to science and commissions her own posthumous portrait, opening a tender meditation on life, death and representation.

🏆 Qualified through
Guanajuato International Film Festival 2026 · Best International Short Fiction

The film has been programmed as both nonfiction and fiction. Its Oscar-qualifying award was won in GIFF's International Fiction Short Film competition.

Another Body

Orit Fouks Rotem, Dani Garmise · Israel · 29 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Mickey, a young musician paralysed in his arms and legs, spends a weekend with Oliver, a charismatic Filipino substitute caregiver whose presence disrupts Mickey’s controlled world and awakens long-suppressed desires.

🏆 Qualified through
Jerusalem Film Festival 2026 · Diamond Award for Best Live Action Film

Festival Page

At Home I Feel Like Leaving

Simon Maria Kubiena · Germany · 20 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A young woman returns to her remote home village after her father disappeared in the forest.

🏆 Qualified through
German Short Film Award 2025 · Live Action from 15 to 30 minutes

Baadarane

Samah El Kadi · Lebanon · 15 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

After his mother’s sudden death, an eight-year-old boy in a Druze village on Mount Lebanon challenges God and the religious traditions that shaped his life, escalating from mischievous tests to darker rebellion.

🏆 Qualified through
Beirut Shorts International Film Festival 2025 · Best Short Live Action (Fiction)

Film Page

Baise-moi à Saint-Gilles

Victor Ruprich-Robert · Belgium · 26 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

At a jam session in Saint-Gilles, Harry and Tina recount their whirlwind love story through music, propelled by adrenaline and an obsession with keeping desire alive.

🏆 Qualified through
Brussels Short Film Festival 2026 · Grand Prix National Competition

Bajamar

Ignacio Giannini · Uruguay / Argentina · 18 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

During fishing season, two men share a ranch and an intimacy neither can name. Their mounting tension threatens the fragile peace between them.

🏆 Qualified through
José Ignacio International Film Festival 2026 · December Award – Best Short Film

Film Page

Beaks (Becs et ongles)

Xavier Demoulin · France · 22:30 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

In northern France, where cockfighting remains legal, 18-year-old Anaïs inherits a mountain of debt after the death of her father, a former breeder of fighting cocks.

🏆 Qualified through
Slamdance 2026 · Narrative Shorts Grand Jury Prize

The Birthday Gift

Arianna Ortiz · USA · 16 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

During an intimate birthday dinner on an icy Chicago night, an unexpected guest upends the lives of an Argentine mother and daughter.

🏆 Qualified through
Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival 2026 · Best U.S. Latino Live Action Short

Film Instagram

The Black Bart of Taco King #17

Rickey Larke · USA · 12 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A suave larcenist searches for a new partner at a dive bar and finds the perfect Bonnie to his Clyde. He takes her to dinner to put her to the test, yet she has all the answers… and more.

🏆 Qualified through
Pan African Film & Arts Festival 2026 · Best Short Narrative Film Award

Official source / film page

Boléro

Nans Laborde-Jourdàa · France · 17 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Fran returns to his hometown to rest and visit his mother. Moving to the jagged rhythm of Ravel’s Boléro, his journey through memory and desire carries the whole village toward a joyfully chaotic climax.

🏆 Qualified through
interfilm Berlin 2025 · Best Live Action (International Competition)

Festival / award page

Boy On Fire

Alies Sluiter · Australia · 16 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Eighteen-year-old Noah falls in love and must decide whether to reveal his criminal past, confronting the question of whether a single childhood decision should define the rest of his life.

🏆 Qualified through
Flickerfest 2026 · LUMIX Award for Best Australian Short Film

The Brave Swing (自主揮棒)

Sheng Chun Huang · Taiwan · 20 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Cheng-Cheng has stopped playing baseball and avoids the field, unable to speak about a frightening boundary violation by a trusted adult. One evening he stands there with his bat and must decide whether to swing.

🏆 Qualified through
OFF – Odense International Film Festival 2026 · Best International Fiction Award

Festival Page

Bubbe & Tal

Daisy Rosato · USA · 13 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Tal is enlisted to drive their Jewish grandmother to Cape Cod in the off-season, turning the trip into a stoner buddy-dramedy between a bubbe and her trans grandchild.

🏆 Qualified through
Provincetown International Film Festival 2026 · Best Queer Short

Film Instagram

Callback

Matthew Puccini · USA

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED 3× QUALIFIER

Max comes home to discover that his boyfriend has booked a callback. The news sends their evening into chaos.

🏆 Qualified through
Aspen Shortsfest 2026 · Jury Award for Comedy
San Francisco International Film Festival 2026 · Golden Gate Award for Best Narrative Short
Provincetown International Film Festival 2026 · Best Narrative Short

Film Page

Candy Bar

Nash Edgerton · Australia · 6 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED THEATRICAL QUALIFICATION

An Australian comedy-thriller in which an apparently ordinary encounter around a candy bar takes an unexpected turn.

🏆 Qualified through
MANHATTAN SHORT 2026 · Finalist — Academy-approved theatrical exhibition

Casa chica

Lau Charles · Mexico · 24 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

After their parents separate, eleven-year-old Quique and five-year-old Valentina spend a day with their father’s other family and discover that their half-sister is the same age as Valentina.

🏆 Qualified through
Morelia International Film Festival 2025 · Ojo for Best Mexican Fiction Short

The Catcher

Luka Galle · Belgium · 30 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Robin is a lonely government employee charged with catching invisible birds. One day he defies his orders and makes a dangerous choice.

🏆 Qualified through
Alexandria Short Film Festival 2026 · Hypatia Award (Live Action Fiction)

Film Page

The Circus Lion

Tigran Tovmasian · Australia · 20 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A young wrestler in Western Sydney, believes making the Australian team is his only escape from his dead-end hometown and the grief tied to it. He discovers that some struggles cannot be outrun.

🏆 Qualified through
Bengaluru International Short Film Festival 2026 · Best Film in International Competition Section

Film Instagram

Close Your Eyes Hind

Amir Zaza · Netherlands · 32 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Based on the true story of Hind Rajab: after tank fire kills her family, the six-year-old is trapped alone in a shattered car and waits for rescue while surrounded by tanks.

🏆 Qualified through
Durban International Film Festival 2026 · Best Short Film

Film Instagram

Crisis Actor

Lily Platt · USA · 13 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Fired from her day job, an impulsive actress crashes a support group and spirals into a chaotic night that forces her to confront her addiction to drama. With Sarah Steele and Philip Ettinger.

🏆 Qualified through
Sundance 2026 · Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction

Film Page

Dasher

Alexander Bocchieri · USA · 26 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A down-and-out food delivery driver and a wayward restaurant worker team up for a chaotic night of deliveries on Christmas Eve.

🏆 Qualified through
Hawai‘i International Film Festival 2025 · Made in Hawai‘i Best Short Film

Festival Page

The Death Notice of Eamonn McCarty

Aaron Chalke · Ireland

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

With one day left to live, a man struggles to fulfil his ambitions while trapped on a customer-service call.

🏆 Qualified through
Foyle Film Festival 2025 · Best Irish Short Film

Festival Page

Diego

Melissa Silveira · France

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Vanessa lives with her disabled younger brother Diego and their strong-willed father Antonio. When Diego’s sexuality awakens, Antonio pushes a conventional model of virile masculinity while Vanessa understands that her brother is attracted to men.

🏆 Qualified through
Cleveland International Film Festival 2026 · Best Live Action Short Film

The Dragon Letter

Stanzin Jigmet · Spain / India · 14 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

In a strict boarding school in the Himalayas, a shy ten-year-old boy struggles to write a letter to his sponsor abroad, but his attempt touches what no perfect letter ever could.

🏆 Qualified through
Student Academy Awards 2026 · Narrative winner

Film Page

Every Time I See a Yellow Car

Matt Chandler · United Kingdom

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Haunted by childhood tragedy and a recent assault, Olly must speak about his past after his protective older brother pursues revenge, pulling them both into a cycle of trauma and violence.

🏆 Qualified through
deadCenter Film Festival 2026 · Best Live Action Short

Extracurricular Activity

Dean Wei, Xu Yidan · China · 22 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

After a nighttime sexual encounter between two high-school students goes wrong, the boy wakes his mother and forces her to resolve a situation that places her role as a parent in conflict with her experience as a woman.

🏆 Qualified through
Festival du Nouveau Cinéma 2025 · Loup Argenté

Family Retreat (Familie Retreat)

Darshika Karunahara · Denmark · 20 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Lameese joins her fiancé Morten and his family at a spa retreat for his mother’s 60th birthday. Beneath the celebration, subtle prejudice and awkward attempts at inclusion expose invisible boundaries of belonging.

🏆 Qualified through
OFF – Odense International Film Festival 2026 · Best Danish Fiction Award

Festival Page

Family Sunday (Domingo Familiar)

Gerardo Del Razo · Mexico · 18 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED 2× QUALIFIER

In a housing complex on the outskirts of Mexico City, collecting protection money is routine. On a sunny Sunday, armed enforcers arrive to confront a merchant who has not paid.

🏆 Qualified through
Leeds International Film Festival 2025 · Louis le Prince International Short Film Competition Grand Prize
CineLebu 2026 · Best International Fiction Short

Film Page

Faux Bijoux

Jessy Moussallem · France / Lebanon · 22 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED 2× QUALIFIER

A story of desperation, deception and exploitation.

🏆 Qualified through
Krakow 2026 · Silver Dragon for the Best Short Fiction Film
Brussels Short Film Festival 2026 · Grand Prix International Competition

Film Page

Flesh Impact

Maggie Gyllenhaal · USA · 22 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED THEATRICAL QUALIFICATION

Dedicated to Marilyn Monroe on the centenary of her birth, the film features yet another extraordinary performance by Ellen Burstyn, showcasing her uncommon talent as a performer. The film’s cast also includes Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, and Sepideh Moafi. Johnson portrays Monroe at the height of her fame, while Burstyn stars as a version of Marilyn the world never got the chance to see. Flesh Impact takes its title from a phrase once used to describe Marilyn Monroe’s aura – that she looked so real and luminous on camera that viewers felt they could touch her through the screen.

🏆 Qualified through
Screenings

For the Opponents (Para Los Contrincantes)

Federico Luis · Argentina

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A young boy growing up in a rough neighbourhood in Mexico dreams of becoming a boxing champion.

🏆 Qualified through
Cannes 2026 · Short Film Palme d’Or

Foxhole

Nick Dugan · USA · 13 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A meditative groundskeeper seeks refuge in the quiet rhythms of a countryside inn, but his past refuses to remain silent.

🏆 Qualified through
Austin Film Festival 2025 · Narrative Short Jury Award

Full Film

FREAK

RJ Sanchez · USA

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

In South Central Los Angeles in 2006, high-school sophomore Angel must decide whether to freak dance with his crush or let the opportunity pass.

🏆 Qualified through
Atlanta Film Festival 2026 · Best Narrative Short

Full Film

From Silence to Word (Do silêncio à palavra)

João Pedro Barriga · Portugal · 20 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

An untold encounter with Margarida opens a reflection on Portuguese cinema, artistic creation interrupted and the passage from silence into speech.

🏆 Qualified through
Curtas Vila do Conde 2026 · Best Film - Portuguese Competition

Festival Page

Fruit (Buah)

Jen Nee Lim · Singapore · 15 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

In a place where abortion is illegal, a pregnant woman’s repeated attempts to end her pregnancy fail until she encounters a strangely serene bus driver.

🏆 Qualified through
Palm Springs ShortFest 2026 · Best of the Festival Award

Grão

Leonardo de Rosa, Gianluca Cozza · Brazil · 24 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

At a port in southern Brazil, Leandro survives by collecting soybeans lost in transit. As the national crisis threatens this precarious livelihood, he drives through the night in search of company, but nothing goes as planned.

🏆 Qualified through
Curta Cinema 2026 · National Competition Grand Prize

Hai Davai

Vlad Gradescu · Moldova · 16 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED THEATRICAL QUALIFICATION

On the verge of leaving her Moldovan village for a new life abroad, Nina is stopped by her grandmother after a black cat crosses the road.

🏆 Qualified through
MANHATTAN SHORT 2026 · Finalist — Academy-approved theatrical exhibition

Film Page

Heart Hanging by a Thread

HEO Yoon · South Korea · 30 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Ahn is suspended between present and past, reality and oblivion. One day, a long thread-like worm enters her body through fingers scarred by cigarette burns.

🏆 Qualified through
Busan International Short Film Festival 2026 · Grand Prix - Korean Competition

Festival Page

Herencia

Cristóbal Miranda Cáceres · Chile · 13 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

The Roque family faces the arrival of a supposed food critic, Spencer Plum - and the return of a familiar spirit determined to save her family.

🏆 Qualified through
CineLebu 2026 · Best Regional Fiction Short

I Will Be Alright

Cyrus Neshvad · Luxembourg · 18 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Having fled the Iranian regime, a young girl disguises herself as the Statue of Liberty to earn a few coins.

🏆 Qualified through
LA Shorts 2026 · Best of Fest

Inherited Silence

Mariam Khatchvani · Georgia · 15 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

In a small Georgian village, Nata and Dato’s family appears harmonious, but beneath the surface lies turmoil. After enduring yet another violent incident at the hands of her husband, Nata decides to leave. This intimate portrait reveals her quiet struggle for dignity against deeply ingrained societal expectations. Premiered at Winterthur 2025.

🏆 Qualified through
Tampere 2026 · Grand Prix (International Competition)

Jazz Infernal

Will Niava · Canada · 16 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Koffi, a young Ivorian trumpeter, arrives in Montréal carrying the legacy of his father. Lost between the city’s noise and the silence of his past, he must confront his roots to find his own voice.

🏆 Qualified through
Sundance 2026 · Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction

Film Page

Jülapüin Yonna (The Dream of Dance)

Luzbeidy Monterrosa Atencio · Colombia · 16 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Wayuu teenager Weinshi dreams of a landscape damaged by coal mining. Guided by ancestral knowledge and the sacred Yonna dance, she prepares for a ritual intended to restore balance with Mother Earth.

🏆 Qualified through
imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival 2026 · Best Live Action Short

Kamathipura Express

Leon Korzyński · Poland / India · 28 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A young Polish man, Osa, has been living in the slums of Mumbai for some time, escaping the responsibilities of adulthood. He falls in love with Sapna, a teenage dancer, whose family is deep in debt and poverty. When Sapna's father tries to sell her to a brothel, the couple is forced on a desperate run across India, away from Kamathipura, Mumbai's red-light district.

🏆 Qualified through
Student Academy Awards 2026 · Narrative winner

La barrière

Christophe Deram · France · 17:49 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Géraldine blocks a deserted road near Calais for a film shoot. Her encounter with Amar, a Syrian refugee, briefly links two isolated lives in an understated act of solidarity.

🏆 Qualified through
Indy Shorts 2026 · Narrative Grand Prize

Film Page

La Pichenotte (The Pichenotte)

Antoine Boulanger · Canada · 29 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

When Stéphane, a death agent overwhelmed by grief, meets Huguette, a senior woman challenging fate, their connection upends his mission. Friendship arises in the very place where life was supposed to end.

🏆 Qualified through
Student Academy Awards 2026 · Narrative winner

Official source / film page

The Last Day of Byron Bray

Michael Borrelli · USA

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A younger man’s friendship with an elderly New Yorker he meets through Alcoholics Anonymous deepens as he becomes Byron’s caregiver near the end of his life.

🏆 Qualified through
Florida Film Festival 2026 · Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Short

Lens (עדשה)

Bar Cohen · Israel · 25 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Shiri, 33, a conservative-bourgeois woman, planned her perfect maternity photo shoot, but her photographer is Lidor, 35, a liberal trans woman. When Shiri’s husband leaves the photo shoot in the middle, the meeting between the two different women raises demons and questions about their changing bodies and their identity in the world.

🏆 Qualified through
Haifa International Film Festival 2025 · Best Independent Film – Israeli Short Film Competition

Life Goes On

Daniel Audritt, Kat Butterfield · United Kingdom · 19 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED THEATRICAL QUALIFICATION

Bill waits for death in end-of-life care, only to find himself trapped in a time loop that restarts whenever his heart stops.

🏆 Qualified through
MANHATTAN SHORT 2026 · Finalist — Academy-approved theatrical exhibition

Film Page

Lion Rock

Nick Mayow, Prisca Bouchet · New Zealand · 16 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

While driving along an eerie ocean road, a teenage boy and his mother hit something with their car. She insists it was nothing, but he begins to doubt her story.

🏆 Qualified through
Melbourne International Film Festival 2026 · City of Melbourne Grand Prix for Best Short Film

Loynes

Dorian Jespers · United Kingdom / North Macedonia / France / Belgium · 25 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED 4× QUALIFIER

In 19th-century Liverpool, a nameless corpse is placed on trial before a crowded courtroom in an absurd, Kafkaesque ceremony whose participants seem determined to produce a guilty verdict.

🏆 Qualified through
Kurzfilmtage Winterthur 2025 · Promotional Award International Competition
Leuven International Short Film Festival 2025 · Jury Award Best Flemish Short Film
Gijón International Film Festival 2025 · Principality of Asturias Award for Best Short Film
Norwegian Short Film Festival 2026 · Golden Chair for Best International Short Film

Lucky Liam

Thomas Hefferon, Troels J. Hundtofte · Ireland

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Taken into a remote forest to be killed, Liam sees a chance to survive when a rookie hitman interrupts the execution.

🏆 Qualified through
Galway Film Fleadh 2026 · Tiernan McBride Award for Best Fiction Short

Maŋutji (Catching Eyes)

Siena Mayutu Wurmarri Stubbs · Australia · 11 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

In the Aboriginal community of Yirrkala in Arnhem Land, two teenagers navigate their feelings for one another while observing cultural boundaries and kinship obligations.

🏆 Qualified through
Sydney Film Festival 2026 · Dendy Award - Best Australian Short Film - Live Action

Festival Page

Magan’s Fare

Chris Dana · USA · 26 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Ride-share driver Magan brings an older woman back to her nursing home on a cold December day, only to discover that the facility has given away her bed.

🏆 Qualified through
St. Louis International Film Festival 2025 · Best Live-Action Short

Film Page

The Man That I Wave At

Ben S. Hyland · United Kingdom · 10:37 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Dave experiences an existential crisis while trying to discover the identity of a mysterious man he habitually waves at—and why the stranger has begun to haunt his dreams.

🏆 Qualified through
Sitges 2025 · SOFC Best Short Film Award

Marga en el DF

Gabriela Ortega · Mexico / USA · 20 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

In the aftermath of Selena Quintanilla’s murder in 1995, 21-weeks-pregnant Marga makes a surprise trip to Mexico City and discovers that the future she had planned has changed.

🏆 Qualified through
Palm Springs ShortFest 2026 · Best Live Action Short over 15 Minutes

Mary is Missing

Aisling Byrne · Ireland · 22 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

When a care worker disappears, a detective must decipher the conflicting and increasingly fantastical accounts of key witnesses, uncovering not only what happened but why they may be concealing the truth.

🏆 Qualified through
Cork International Film Festival 2025 · Grand Prix Irish Short

Film Page

Mary the Widow

Ryan Noufer · USA · 14 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A recently widowed woman confronts grief and the practical realities of life after her husband's death.

🏆 Qualified through
Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival 2026 · Best Short Narrative Film — Drama

Meeting Your Maker

Gregory J. M. Kasunich · USA · 18 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Just before the 300th episode of a long-running children’s show, its beloved puppet Otis suffers an existential crisis, confronting identity, burnout and the bond between performer and creation.

🏆 Qualified through
Dallas International Film Festival 2026 · Grand Jury Prize - Best Narrative Short Film

Mine for a Moment

Kristian Lever · United Kingdom · 16 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

After years of miscarriages, a woman cannot face another loss and commits an irreversible act at someone else’s expense.

🏆 Qualified through
LA Shorts 2026 · Best International

Moment of Choice

Chang Huai-yu, Chang Yung-han · Taiwan · 28 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Sitting in an obstetrics clinic, Anne must choose between terminating an unexpected pregnancy to pursue a lucrative job in the United States or remaining in Taiwan as a single mother, while her fear of family life assumes a monstrous form.

🏆 Qualified through
St. Louis International Film Festival 2025 · Best of Fest

Morgenkreis (Morning Circle)

Basma al-Sharif · Canada / United Arab Emirates · 21 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A displaced father prepares his son for school as bureaucratic procedures and private rituals converge, each demanding conformity; the routines of kindergarten turn separation into a daily ceremony.

🏆 Qualified through
Kurzfilmtage Winterthur 2025 · Grand Prize for the International Competition

Mort d’un acteur

Ambroise Rateau · France · 21 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Actor Philippe Rebbot learns from the news and social media that he has died. He is perfectly alive, but the rumour keeps growing despite every attempt to deny it.

🏆 Qualified through
César 2026 (51st edition · 26 February 2026), Best Short Fiction Film

Film Page

Mother is a Natural Sinner

Hoda Taheri, Boris Hadžija · Germany · 15 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

An unexpected pregnancy leads Hoda to re-examine common assumptions about gender roles in a relationship.

🏆 Qualified through
German Short Film Award 2025 (20 November 2025) · Live Action up to 15 minutes

Film Page

My Dear Bag (Moja Kochana Torebka)

Karolina Fronkin · Poland · 17 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Zenia expects a carefree trip with her father, but the weekend becomes a confrontation with a painful truth that shatters her world and forces her to grow up.

🏆 Qualified through
Huesca International Film Festival 2026 · 1st Prize - International Danzante Award

My Plastic Mother

Amar Haikal · Indonesia · 17:49 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Living beside a landfill, Eki searches for a keepsake with which to honour his late mother. Rain, landslides, scavengers and heavy machinery threaten both him and the memory he fears will be buried beneath the waste.

🏆 Qualified through
Flickerfest 2026 · Flickerfest Award for Best International Short Film

Film Page

Nava

Dena Rassam · Iran · 16 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A young Iranian singer risks everything to return from overseas to see her father and perform a secret concert. But when she’s arrested, she faces a life-altering choice: flee the country or stay and fight for her art and her people.

🏆 Qualified through
Athens International Film + Video Festival 2026 · 1st Prize Narrative Short

Festival Page

Never Give Up!

Tamás Yvan Topolánszky · Mexico · 20 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED THEATRICAL QUALIFICATION

After a deadly border crossing separates him from his mother, a young boy is left alone in the desert. He clings to a damaged phone and carries with him the words she taught him to live by: never give up.

🏆 Qualified through
MANHATTAN SHORT 2026 · Finalist — Academy-approved theatrical exhibition

Nightfaces (Nachtgesichter)

Martin Winter, Stefan Langthaler · Austria / Germany / Spain · 23 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Mahan, a frustrated Vienna taxi driver longing for his family, picks up a homeless woman desperate to see her son on his birthday. After accidentally breaking her gift, he takes her on one last journey through the city at night.

🏆 Qualified through
Santa Fe International Film Festival 2025 · Best Narrative Short

Film Page

Nobody Barks

Júlia Coldwell Serra · Spain · 19 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

After accidentally running over her young nephew’s dog, Candela invents a story about dogs making pilgrimages to a sacred tree so she will not ruin his birthday.

🏆 Qualified through
Busan International Short Film Festival 2026 · Grand Prix - International Competition

Nobody Said Anything (Nitko Ništa Nije Rekao)

Tamara Todorović · Serbia / France / Slovenia / Croatia · 15 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED 2× QUALIFIER

Katarina is summoned to the home of her daughter’s friend to confront the consequences of a seemingly innocent game that has spiralled out of control.

🏆 Qualified through
Sarajevo 2026 · Heart of Sarajevo for Best Narrative Short Film
Sarajevo 2026 · Best European Short Film / European Film Academy Narrative Short Film Candidate

Film Page

Norheimsund

Ana A. Alpizar · Cuba / USA · 12 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED THEATRICAL QUALIFICATION

A girl's long-distance romance with an older Norwegian man promises escape from Cuba, but he proves less ideal than she imagined.

🏆 Qualified through
MANHATTAN SHORT 2026 · Finalist — Academy-approved theatrical exhibition

Nostalgie

Kathryn Ferguson · Ireland / United Kingdom · 19 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A faded English pop star is invited out of retirement for an unexpected Belfast performance and faces a moral dilemma over the political meaning of his old music.

🏆 Qualified through
Irish Film & Television Awards 2026 · IFTA Award for Live Action Short Film (presented as Redbreast Unhidden Best Short Film)

Nothing Happens After Your Absence

Ibrahim Omar · Sudan / Egypt · 16 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Ibrahim returns to the village he once left, hoping to screen films. As custom and bureaucracy obstruct him, war breaks out across Sudan and his search for a screen becomes a fight to survive.

🏆 Qualified through
Curtas Vila do Conde 2026 · Grand Prix - International Competition

Ölüm Bizi Ayırana Dek (Till Death Do Us Part)

Deniz Koloş · Türkiye · 19 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Emergency-room nurse Songül avoids going home as her soon-to-be ex-husband returns to collect his belongings; an encounter with an elderly man searching for someone draws her into a reckoning with grief and separation.

🏆 Qualified through
İzmir International Short Film Festival 2025 · Best National Short Fiction

Opera

Igor Zelic · Croatia · 19:39 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Opera is an experimental film that explores perception through a filmic collage constructed with the help of a single light source. Through layered manipulation of that single source, the frame gains the rhythm of multiple sources and a play of light that transforms space and perception. This is a film about how an image can conceal reality - and what happens when it can no longer do so.

🏆 Qualified through
Oberhausen 2026 · Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen

Pankaja

Anooya Swamy · India / USA · 14 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Pankaja and her daughter Lalli search Bangalore for her husband, who has been missing for three days.

🏆 Qualified through
Raindance Film Festival 2026 · Best Live Action Short

Pickup

Viktoriia Lapushkina · Russia · 3 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED THEATRICAL QUALIFICATION

At a pickup workshop, shy Di is sent to ask a stranger to buy her coffee and instead meets a suicidal man on a rooftop.

🏆 Qualified through
MANHATTAN SHORT 2026 · Finalist — Academy-approved theatrical exhibition

Film Page

Pile On (疊羅漢)

Hu Lu · China · 30 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

While his parents are away at a wedding banquet, Xiaohu invites friends over to play. Their attempt to enter the adult world spirals far beyond anything they imagined.

🏆 Qualified through
Taipei Golden Horse Awards 2025 (62nd edition · 22 November 2025), Best Live Action Short Film

Power Trip

Patrick Willems · USA · 26 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED THEATRICAL QUALIFICATION

Power Trip follows a rideshare driver who ends up in an unexpectedly complicated conversation with her passenger.

🏆 Qualified through
Screenings

Film Page

¡Que Suene La Banda!

Jorge Parra Jr. · USA · 23 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Javier, a classical musician preparing for his college audition, must finally embrace his Mexican roots.

🏆 Qualified through
New York International Children’s Film Festival 2026 · Jury Award Best Live Action Short

Round and Round

Hayato Otogi · Japan · 13:26 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

On an autumn afternoon, Sana and Asa meet in a park for the first time in ten years. Their small talk revives shared memories and circles around two confessions neither has managed to voice.

🏆 Qualified through
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2026 · Best Short - Japan

Festival Page

Sabura

Falcão Nhaga · Portugal · 27 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A young couple faces an uncertain future between Africa and Europe. Reunited in Lisbon and sharing a home with other immigrants, distance and proximity test their relationship.

🏆 Qualified through
Uppsala International Short Film Festival 2025 · Uppsala Grand Prix

Film Page

Sandy Fannies (Sand i tissen)

Ingrid Runde Saxegaard · Norway · 14 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Sixteen-year-old Aurora spends a naked day with her mother on a deserted beach. Their intimate conversations about sex and love blur the boundary between parent and friend.

🏆 Qualified through
Norwegian Short Film Festival 2026 · Golden Chair for Best Norwegian Short Film

Film Page

The School Uniform

Martin Z · China · 25 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A boy is given a girl's school uniform, turning an everyday object into a test of conformity and identity.

🏆 Qualified through
Warsaw Film Festival 2025 · Best Live Action Short

Festival Page

Scouts Honor

Isabel Pask · USA · 14 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Desperate to afford tickets to their dream concert, two friends join a fake Girl Scout troop and attempt to raise the money before leaving for college.

🏆 Qualified through
Seattle International Film Festival 2026 · Grand Jury Prize for Live Action Short

Festival Page

The Sentry

Jake Wachtel · Cambodia / Norway / USA · 18 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A suave Western agent on assignment in Cambodia expects another routine kill, until a local guard refuses to remain a footnote in someone else’s spy story.

🏆 Qualified through
Show Me Shorts 2025 · Best International Film

Film Page

Shallow End

Maria de la Cruz Rudloff · USA · 11 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A young woman comes home from rehab in hopes of reconnecting with her childhood best friend, only to discover that their relationship wasn’t as idyllic as she remembered.

🏆 Qualified through
Reel Sisters 2025 · Reel Sisters Best Narrative Short Award

Film Page

A Shot at Art

Ilke Paddenburg · Netherlands · 17 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Two seasoned volunteers at an international art festival become participants in a highly controversial installation, turning their dedication to the event into an unexpected confrontation with contemporary art.

🏆 Qualified through
REGARD Saguenay 2026 · Grand Prize

Film Page

Soleil Pâle (Pale Sun)

Adrian Moyse Dullin, Jawahine Zentar · France · 16 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED 2× QUALIFIER

Twelve-year-old Abel spends a summer at the beach with his family and finds himself ashamed of his father’s body, marked by cancer.

🏆 Qualified through
Aspen Shortsfest 2026 · Jury Award for Drama
HollyShorts 2026 · Best Live Action

Someday a Child (Yawman ma walad)

Marie-Rose Osta · France / Romania / Lebanon · 27 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A boy in war-devastated Gaza. The children in the film have superpowers they use to defend themselves.

🏆 Qualified through
Berlinale 2026 · Golden Bear for Best Short Film

Something Wild (Valami Vad)

Zsuzsanna Konrád · Hungary / USA · 21 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED 3× QUALIFIER

In an ordinary Hungarian family home, a straight-A student yearning for freedom begins to transform into a bear.

🏆 Qualified through
Tallinn Black Nights / PÖFF Shorts 2025 · International Live Action Competition: Best Short Film
Raindance Film Festival 2026 · Best Live Action Short
Friss Hús Budapest 2026 · Best Hungarian Live-Action Short Film

A South Facing Window (Uragshaa harsan tsonh)

Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir · France / Mongolia · 19 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Azaa and Shagai live in Ulaanbaatar with their six-year-old daughter. On the verge of separating, they search for lost happiness in empty high-rise apartments and fight while trapped in the city’s traffic.

🏆 Qualified through
Tampere 2026 · Best Fiction (International Competition)

Souvenir

Renée Marie Petropoulos · USA · 14 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

An intimate piece on love, trust and the vulnerability of being perceived, told through the lens of girlhood.

🏆 Qualified through
SXSW 2026 · Narrative Short Competition Jury Award

SPEEDY!

Jiin Oh · South Korea / USA · 17:48 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

In Seoul in 1989, Jung-min becomes determined to rival speed-reading prodigy Dong-hyun, who claims he can finish an entire book in sixty seconds.

🏆 Qualified through
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2026 · Best Short - Asia International

Film Page

Spilled Milk

Jared Leaf · USA · 12 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A father’s ordinary errand to buy milk leads to an encounter with the enigmatic Milk Man, offering a sinister answer to the old story of fathers who leave for milk and never return.

🏆 Qualified through
American Black Film Festival 2026 · HBO Short Film Award Showcase / Best Short Film Award

Film Page

Spooky Encounters of the Sad Kind

Jonathan Wilhelmsson · USA · 12 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

When amateur filmmaker Liz starts documenting the cute ghost haunting her apartment, she discovers a bit more than either of them is ready for.

🏆 Qualified through
Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival 2026 · Best Short Narrative Film — Comedy

Stiina

Elisabeth Kužovnik · Estonia · 15 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

28-year-old Stiina is a single mother raising her 9-year-old daughter Emma by herself. While Stiina is working, Emma is often left home alone. What Stiina doesn't know is that Emma has a friend that keeps her company and comforts her when bad things happen. What neither of them know, is that Emma's friend is actually more connected to them than they realise.

🏆 Qualified through
Tallinn Black Nights / PÖFF Shorts 2025 · National Competition: Best Short Film

A Story Carved on a Tree (Zadavar Korleli Gosht)

Sainath Laxman Ganuwad · India · 21 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

When Nisha (13) insults the powerful village Sarpanch, she's chased by his vengeful son from bus stop to home. Scared and tired, she starts having nightmares about a ghostly woman. But soon, Nisha learns the ghost is actually her grandmother, who had once stood up to the same injustice.Inspired by her, Nisha finds the strength to stand her ground and reclaim her dignity.

🏆 Qualified through
Bengaluru International Short Film Festival 2026 · Best Film in Indian Competition Section

Festival Page

Synthesize Me

Bear Damen · Netherlands/USA · 15 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

In a small town near Mexico City in 1989, twelve-year-old Violeta finds a way to revive her late mother’s synthesizers—with disastrous consequences for her and her father.

🏆 Qualified through
New Orleans Film Festival 2025 · Narrative Short Jury Award

Film Page

Taji

Mahdi Borjian · Iran · 19 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

After a bracelet disappears from a factory, head worker Taji discovers that her abusive, indebted husband stole it and must decide whether to expose him or protect him.

🏆 Qualified through
Foyle Film Festival 2025 · Best International Short Film

Festival Page

Them That’s Not

Mekhai Lee · USA · 19 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Drea, a queer Deaf poet, returns to her grandmother’s house for the repass and feels isolated by relatives who do not use ASL. The arrival of her estranged father on a one-day prison furlough forces a reckoning with grief and their damaged relationship.

🏆 Qualified through
Chicago International Film Festival 2025 · Gold Hugo – Live Action Short Film Competition

Festival Page

Three (Tres)

Juan Ignacio Ceballos · Argentina · 24 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

At a country house, Mario and Belén surprise her brother Danilo with Paula’s arrival. An apparently peaceful gathering gradually fractures under tension, alcohol and unspoken grievances.

🏆 Qualified through
Guadalajara International Film Festival 2026 · Best Ibero-American Short Film

Through Your Eyes

Nelson Yeo · Singapore · 20 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

In a discotheque seemingly frozen in the 1980s, four lives intertwine as each searches for connection and meaning amid the pulsating rhythms and timeless allure of an era that refuses to fade.

🏆 Qualified through
Singapore International Film Festival 2025 · Best Southeast Asian Short Film

Film Page

Treasure Island (L’île aux trésors)

Miryam Charles · Canada · 17 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

In the summer of 1993, twelve-year-old Marthe persuades her brother to run away from home and from the Haitian heritage they both reject; together with their cousins, they debate what their future could hold.

🏆 Qualified through
BlackStar Film Festival 2026 · Short Narrative Jury Award

Film Page

Trio

Fridtjof Josefsen, Morten Borgestad · Norway · 3:51 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

A man tries to find his place among his friends in a brief piece of physical comedy.

🏆 Qualified through
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2026 · Best Short - International

Troublemaker (Gamberra)

Marine Auclair March · Spain · 19 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

During her first year at a conservative, elitist college residence, Marta desperately searches for a morning-after pill amid sexual taboos while her peers prepare an initiation ritual.

🏆 Qualified through
Huesca International Film Festival 2026 · 1st Prize - Ibero-American Danzante Award

Typhoon Mambo

Domenico Singha Pedroli · Switzerland / France · 23 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Rusmee continues speaking with her late husband Chalerm through an AI chatbot. When his former caretaker Fa arrives, the memories inhabiting the house are released and Rusmee can begin to accept her loss.

🏆 Qualified through
Locarno 2026 · Pardino d’Oro SRG SSR for the Best Swiss Short Film

Unleaded 95 (Bleifrei 95)

Tina Emy Muffler, Emma Hütt · Austria · 24 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Three friends in their mid-twenties reunite at the place of their youth, where they must renegotiate their friendship between gas station cruising, motorways, and the world’s oldest lesbian bar.

🏆 Qualified through
Vienna Shorts 2026 · Austrian Short Film Award (Austrian Competition, Best Film)

Vital

Amir Zargara · Canada/Iran/Turkey · 14 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED THEATRICAL QUALIFICATION

A mother in Iran, considers selling her organs to save her daughter, while in the United States, a doctor faces ethical dilemmas to save his daughter, revealing the complexities of organ trade.

🏆 Qualified through
Screenings

Vultures (Aasvoëls)

Dian Weys · France / South Africa · 15 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

In the volatile moments after a car crash, before the authorities arrive, a hot-headed yet desperate tow truck driver fiercely protects his tow. But the situation quickly spirals out of his control.

🏆 Qualified through
HollyShorts 2026 · Best Short Film Grand Prize

Other awards: Best International (HollyShorts 2026), Jury Award International Competition (Brussels 2026), Honourable Mention (Flickerfest 2026)

We Were Here

Pranav Bhasin · India · 11 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

In a sleepy Indian town, three retired men—convinced machines are replacing them—threaten to take over the work of household appliances. Their crusade is shaken when one of their children gets a job at an AI company.

🏆 Qualified through
Palm Springs ShortFest 2026 · Best Live Action Short 15 Minutes and Under

Other awards: Best Comedy Short (Palm Springs), The Ellen Award (Aspen Shortsfest 2026)

Film Page

When the Geese Flew

Arthur Gay · New Zealand · 19 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

In a desperate attempt to prevent his older sister from leaving home, fifteen-year-old Cyrus tries to recover her stolen dirt bike.

🏆 Qualified through
Show Me Shorts 2025 · Best New Zealand Film

Writers in Love

Sarah Joan Wischusen Giles · Australia · 11 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

Two writers’ romantic relationship takes a sharp turn when they discover opposing views on the ethics of using real life as material, blurring the line between storytelling and manipulation.

🏆 Qualified through
St Kilda Film Festival 2026 · Best Short Film

Festival Page

Year of the Dragon

Giran Findlay Liu · Canada · 13 min

LIVE ACTION OSCAR-QUALIFIED

An immigrant mother sets out to deliver a cake for her son’s birthday, but the unraveling day forces her to confront the reality of his situation.

🏆 Qualified through
Canadian Screen Awards 2026 · Best Live Action Short Drama

Full Film

More from the Oscar Circuit

See every list in The Oscar Circuit.