The New Yorker has nine films short listed for the 95th Academy Awards

  

Stills from Black Slide animated short

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced its shortlists for the 95th Academy Awards in ten categories, and The New Yorker has nine films in three categories represented: “Haulout,” “Holding Moses,” “Nuisance Bear,” and “Stranger at the Gate” in Documentary Short Subject; “Black Slide,” “The Flying Sailor,” “The Garbage Man,” and “Ice Merchants” in Animated Short Film; and “Night Ride” in Live Action Short Film.

 

    The films, directed by filmmakers from around the world, are among the fifteen in each category that have been chosen to move forward in the competition for Oscar nominations. Nominations will be announced on Tuesday, January 24th.

 

Documentary Short Subject

 

In “Stranger at the Gate,” directed by Joshua Seftel, a former Marine with P.T.S.D. plans to attack a mosque in his hometown in Indiana—until an unexpected encounter with faith. 

 

In “Holding Moses,” directed by Rivkah Beth Medow and Jen Rainin, a mother comes to terms with her son’s disability in an intimate portrayal of a parenting journey that’s rarely discussed in the open.

 

In “Nuisance Bear,” Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden turn the nature documentary on its head with this portrait of a Manitoba town where travelers arrive in droves every autumn to observe the migration of polar bears.

 

In “Haulout,” Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev follow a marine biologist who is chronicling climate change’s chaotic and often deadly effect on thousands of walruses in the Siberian Arctic. “Haulout” won Best Short at the 38th IDA Documentary Awards earlier this month.

 

Animated Short Film

 

In Uri Lotan’s “Black Slide,” which The New Yorker will publish in the spring, Eviah, a timid pre-teen boy, is pressured by his friend Tsuf to sneak onto the most terrifying ride at a waterpark. There, he gains the insight he needs to face the death of his mother back home.

 

In “Ice Merchants,” which The New Yorker just published on Wednesday, January 4th, João Gonzalez creates a surreal world in which a father and son parachute from their cold cliff-top home to sell ice to the faraway village on the ground.

 

In “The Flying Sailor,” which was inspired by the 1917 Halifax Explosion, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby imagine what happens to a middle-aged man who goes from minding his own business to being blasted through the heavens.

 

In “The Garbage Man,” by Laura Gonçalves, a group of relatives remember their late uncle over a family meal. As each family member picks up the thread of his life and passes it along as seamlessly as they pass the wine, their uncle returns to the family table as a mythic figure—from the composite of their recollections.

 

Live Action Short Film

 

In “Night Ride, by Eirik Tveiten, Ebba finds herself driving a purloined tram, and is challenged to speak up in an uncomfortable situation.

 

The films are presented by The New Yorker Studios, and for the past seven years, The New Yorker has had an Academy-nominated film in distribution. The documentary shorts are part of the award-winning New Yorker Documentary series, which showcases innovative short films from around the world. Produced by both emerging and renowned filmmakers, the films depict uncommon perspectives on issues that matter. The short docs in the series have garnered numerous honors, including Edward R. Murrow Awards, National Magazine Awards, and SPD Awards, and an Emmy. The scripted films are part of the “Screening Room” series, which features fictional films that will make you laugh, cry, and challenge your view of the mundane and the extraordinary.