The Oscar Nominated Short Films (2012)

This compilation of Oscar-winning short films was put together by Shorts International, which also has a cable tv channel. They are the group who in the past few years have theatrically screened Oscar short film programs a few weeks just prior to the Oscar telecast, a few of which I've been able to attend. I have additionally seen a few of these at the Chicago International Film Festival or in other places. At one time cable tv channels such as HBO used shorts to either fill up an hour after the end of a film, or an established program such as Exposure, a science fiction and fantasy-based short film program hosted by Lisa Marie, would appear on the Sci Fi Channel. Now we get a whole channel devoted to shorts, in addition to many online portals one can find shorts on! Overall the films on this DVD are pretty good, a selection of live action and animated shorts from about the last ten years, and I can see why they were chosen as winners.

Films include:

God of Love (2010, U.S)
The New Tenants (2009, Denmark)
Toyland (2007, Germany)
West Bank Story (2005, U.S.)
The Lost Thing (2010, Australia)
Logorama (2009, France)
The Danish Poet (2006, Norway/Canada)
Ryan (2004, Canada)
Harvie Krumpet (2004, Australia)

Synopses and reviews after the jump!

CIFF 2010--The Matchmaker

Another film from 2010 CIFF, this is an Israeli coming of age story. A man remembers his youth after a matchmaker he worked for dies and leaves him all his possessions.

Arik was a teenager in the late 1960s, when several things happened one summer. A matchmaker, Yankale, an old friend of his father's from "those" days (WW2 concentration camps) offers to find matches for those who need help--peculiar people, meek people, the deformed. At first Arik and his friends trick him but Yankale is actually more savvy than that and hires Arik to be a sort of spy for him. When he has a client whose story sounds shady, he sends Arik to tail them to find out if their intentions are sexual or really for a love match.

Yankale is helped by a lady friend, Miss Clara, who has also suffered during the war, and now has to fend for herself as well. Arik is concerned they have a black market business because he likes them.

Another event is his best friend's Americanized (and sexy) female cousin visits.