ShortsTV Brings the ‘2019 Oscar® Nominated Short Films’ to Indian Cinemas

by Shrutee K/DNS

MUMBAI: ShortsTV, the world’s only TV channel dedicated to short movies (available in India on Tata Sky), is bringing the ‘2019 Oscar® Nominated Short Films’ to Indian cinemas. This exclusive release features the year’s most spectacular short films and will be the first time that the Oscar® Nominated Short Films are shown on the big screen in India. The ‘2019 Oscar® Nominated Shorts Films’ will showcase the Live Action and Animation short film nominees’ compilation as two separate theatrical releases. The Live Action release will also include the nominated documentary, ‘Period. End of Sentence’, which was filmed in India.

“Short movies continue to be one of the most interesting and surprising filmmaking categories recognised by the Oscars® every year,” said Carter Pilcher, Chief Executive at ShortsTV. “Truly some of 2018’s most diverse filmmaking is represented in the short film categories this year — the live action nominees tackle hard-hitting subjects that are bringing headlines around the globe, while the animated shorts are inspirational and hilarious.  We are proud to be presenting these incredible films to Indian audiences for the first time. As the leading short movie entertainment company, we are seeing a surge in popularity for short movies in India and around the world.”

The nominees’ countries of origin range from Ireland, Canada, China, Spain to the United States. Furthermore, several films focus on Asia or are from filmmakers of Asian descent, and there are five women directors nominated in this year’s short film category.

Globally, this marks the 14th consecutive year of the Oscar® Nominated Short Films theatrical experience. A stunning showcase of talent and diversity of subjects, the annual theatrical event continues to gain popularity. In 2018, the Oscar® Nominated Short Films earned over $3.5 million in worldwide box office gross, double the level from just two years prior. The 2019 release will be the biggest theatrical release of short films in the modern history of cinema, rolling out to more than 600 screens across the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, South Africa, Australia and India before the Academy Awards® ceremony on 24 February 2019, and has already achieved its best ever opening weekend box office in the United States.

The release will be shown in the following PVR Cinemas:

Cinema Name	City
PVR Juhu	Mumbai
PVR Icon, Goregaon	Mumbai
PVR Kurla	Mumbai
PVR Select Citywalk	Delhi
PVR Directors Cut	Delhi
PVR Promenade Vasant Kunj	Delhi
PVR Subhash Nagar	Delhi
PVR Ambience, Gurgaon	Gurgaon
PVR Superplex Logix	Noida
PVR VR	Bengaluru
PVR Forum	Bengaluru
PVR Vega City	Bengaluru
PVR Kukatpally	Hyderabad
PVR L&T Metro	Hyderabad
PVR Phoenix Marketcity	Pune
PVR The Pavillion	Pune
PVR Acropolis	Ahmedabad
PVR VR Metro	Chennai
PVR Elante	Chandigarh
PVR Manisquare	Kolkata

The release includes the following nominated short films:

ANIMATED SHORT FILM NOMINEES RELEASE

ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR

Canada/14 Minutes/English

Directors: David Fine, Alison Snowden

Synopsis: Dealing with what comes naturally isn’t easy, especially for animals. In ‘Animal Behaviour’, five animals meet regularly to discuss their inner angst in a group therapy session led by Dr. Clement, a canine psychotherapist.

BAO

USA/8 Minutes/Chinese & English

Director: Domee Shi

Synopsis: An aging Chinese mom suffering from empty nest syndrome gets another chance at motherhood when one of her dumplings springs to life as a lively, giggly dumpling boy.

LATE AFTERNOON

Irelands/10 Minutes/English

Director: Louise Bagnall

Synopsis: Emily is an elderly woman who lives between two states, the past and the present. She journeys into an inner world, reliving moments from her life. She searches for a connection within her vivid, but fragmented memories. 

ONE SMALL STEP

USA & China/8 Minutes/English

Directors: Andrew Chesworth, Bobby Pontillas

Synopsis: Luna is a vibrant young Chinese American girl who dreams of becoming an astronaut. From the day she witnesses a rocket launching into space on TV, Luna is driven to reach for the stars. As Luna grows up, she enters college, facing adversity of all kinds in pursuit of her dreams. 

WEEKENDS

USA/16 Minutes/English (music)

Director: Trevor Jimenez

Synopsis: Weekends is the story of a young boy shuffling between the homes of his recently divorced parents. Surreal dream-like moments mix with the domestic realities of a broken-up family in this hand-animated film set in 1980’s Toronto. 

LIVE ACTION (AND DOCUMENTARY) SHORT FILM NOMINEES RELEASE

DETAINMENT

Ireland/30 Minutes/English

Director: Vincent Lambe

Synopsis: Two ten-year-old boys are detained by police under suspicion of abducting and murdering a toddler. A true story based on interview transcripts from the James Bulger case which shocked the world in 1993 and continues to incite public outrage across the UK today. 

FAUVE

Canada/17 Minutes/English & French

Director: Jeremy Comte

Synopsis: Set in a surface mine, two boys sink into a seemingly innocent power game with Mother Nature as the sole observer… 

MARGUERITE

Canada/19 Minutes/English & French

Director: Marianne Farley

Synopsis: An aging woman and her nurse develop a friendship that inspires her to unearth unacknowledged longing and thus help her make peace with her past.

MADRE (MOTHER)

Spain/19 Minutes/English & Spanish

Director: Rodrigo Sorogoyen

Synopsis: A single mother receives a call from her seven-year-old son who is on vacation with his father in the French Basque Country. At first the call is a cause for joy, but soon it becomes a horrible nightmare when the child tells her that he is alone and cannot find his father who left a while ago. 

SKIN

USA/20 Minutes/English

Director: Guy Nattiv

Synopsis: A small supermarket in a blue-collar town, a black man smiles at a 10 year old white boy across the checkout aisle. This innocuous moment sends two gangs into a ruthless war that ends with a shocking backlash.

BONUS NOMINATED DOCUMENTARY

PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE

USA/26 Minutes/English & Hindi

Director: Reyka Zehtabchi

Synopsis: In a rural village outside Delhi, India, women lead a quiet revolution. They fight against the deeply rooted stigma of menstruation. ‘Period. End of Sentence’ tells their story.

ABOUT SHORTSTV:  ShortsTV is operated by Shorts International Ltd, the world’s leading short movie entertainment company. With over 5,000 titles, Shorts International has the world’s largest library of shorts available on TV, online and in theatres, including award-winning and star-studded live action, animated and documentary shorts from around the world.

 ShortsTV is the world’s only 24/7 HD TV channel dedicated to short movies. It is available in approximately 70 million households across the US, India, Latin America, the Netherlands, Belgium and Serbia.  In India, ShortsTV is available as ‘Tata Sky ShortsTV’, on Tata Sky channel HD 112 and SD 113, and on the Tata Sky app. In 2018, ShortsTV launched the ShortsTV App which marries the linear ShortsTV feed with the functionality of the Internet, at the click of a button on a viewer’s remote control. Using advanced machine-learning algorithm technology, the ShortsTV App enables viewers to either watch TV or to create, control and personalize their own TV channel, engineered to their desired genres or moods.