Best Documentary Short Subject: Ranking Every 96th Academy Award Nominee
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
This article is a part of the Academy Awards Project, where Andreas Babiolakis from Films Fatale ranks every Oscar nominee from worst to best, and goes through every category once a day five days a week.
We’re in the final stretch of the Academy Awards Project! Well, sort of. We’ve got six categories that honour entire films outside of Best Picture (and Best Director is the only other category I haven’t touched yet, but will be pairing that with the final Best Picture category for obvious reasons). Before we get into the feature-length films, I’m crossing off all of the shorts. We’re kicking off this shorts run with the Best Documentary Short Subject category. Quite often the most overlooked category at the Academy Awards every year, the documentary shorts usually have something worthwhile to watch. Having said that, there can be snoozefests that take place in this category, and they usually stem from interesting talking points that are ballooned to being too long or monotonous, hence being great conversations that are turned into boring films. Will we run into any such problem this year? You’ll find out shortly. Documentary shorts are tricky because you’re being tasked with delivering an entire filmic thesis in forty minutes or less. This usually results in documentary shorts being about specific arguments or concepts as opposed to fully-fledged analyses. These can be nice, bite-sized takes on world topics when done properly. Will we find any strong examples of these?
Here are your nominees for Best Documentary Short Subject ranked from worst to best.
Biggest Snub: Wings of Dust
Truth be told, none of my top five picks of the Best Documentary Short Subject shortlisted nominees made the final five (you can read more about them here), so I obviously have a few bones to pick in this category. The biggest snub, and perhaps one of the biggest of the 96th Academy Awards (although no one will be talking about this as much as they are about Barbie) is Wings of Dust: a harrowing, spine-tingling documentary about the lengths that proper journalistic integrity will go (even if it is at the detriment of the individual). I highly recommend catching this film, regardless of whether or not it has been nominated (it damn well should have been).
5. Island in Between
My top choice of the shortlisted nominees didn’t get selected, but it appears that my last place selection did. Even at twenty minutes, I found Island in Between to be a slog, unfortunately. I do like its premise (about director S. Leo Chiang’s conflict with identity as he remarks about his life in the Kinmen Islands, and his time spent in Taiwan, China, and the United States), and the concept was clearly sincere and meaningful to the filmmaker. Having said that, Island in Between feels aimless and vague: like an artistic and candid study on these memories without posing much actual artistry nor the revelations necessary to make this personal picture feel like a proper connection. Sorry, folks. I didn’t care for this one all that much.
Rating: 2.5/5
4. The ABCs of Book Banning
The concept of banning and/or burning books is a highly problematic one, and it is a crucial talking point that has been made in the documentary short, The ABCs of Book Burning. On paper, this is an important short that does a good enough job to warrant being seen, as the film goes through a laundry list of banned books and the silly reasons why. My biggest issue is that The ABCs of Book Burning settles for the idea that banning books is bad. This is a given that most people on Earth — who aren’t tied to religious, political, or personal nonsensical reasons — have already agreed upon. I wish the film went into the pending repercussions that we’re due for banning important literature because the best documentaries educate in some sort of way. Sure, we can find out what books are getting banned in the United States via a quick Google search. We need to be informed about the plethora of reasons why this is bad outside of freedom of speech and artistic integrity because there are many historical and political issues connected to this practice. The ABCs of Book Banning is good, but also not strong enough to get the majority of its point across.
Rating: 3/5
3. The Last Repair Shop
The Last Repair Shop is a sweet and touching film about a struggling community and its uniting generations of old and new. The glue that is trying to mend this neighbourhood? The love of music. As we witness instruments being fixed (as the four subjects in the film are passionate about music but cannot afford new instruments), The Last Repair Shop feels a little bit like a paradox. In one way, it feels a little too long given its current state: the interviews linger on each person without seemingly getting anywhere outside of their connections to their instruments. On the other hand, it also feels like it is too short, given its potential; had we seen the instruments getting fixed in full or gone deeper into the musical histories of each person (or the community as a whole), The Last Repair Shop could have made for a stronger feature. Nonetheless, the conclusion strengthens the short film by creating a symphony of unheard voices given the opportunity to showcase their talents and snippets of their lives in a beautiful sequence; one that reminds us what it’s all about for these people and for The Last Repair Shop. Despite my suggestions, I do recommend this short because I guarantee it’ll sit better with some readers than it did with me (given its emotional core).
Rating: 3.5/5
2. Nai Nai & Wài Pó
Ah, the rare feel-good documentary of the year. Sure, we have some heartwarming nominees here, but Nai Nai & Wài Pó is outright fun. We follow Sean Wang as he documents his grandmothers, turning them into overnight movie stars. As they have silly laughs and partake in some goofy sequences, both grandmas remind us that age is just a number and that you don’t have to use your twilight years to face the inevitability of death. It’s the kind of uplifting message we could use in a particularly on-edge society we are currently living in, and an important message that all adversities can be faced with optimism (having a best friend doesn’t hurt, either). The best news? Nai Nai & Wài Pó is shorter than twenty minutes, meaning that you can squeeze this dopamine fix into any day at any time.
Rating: 3.5/5
1. The Barber of Little Rock
My top-ranking choice here is The Barber of Little Rock: the chronicles of one Arlo Washington and his best efforts to try and stave off the widening racial wealth gap in his community. The most thorough of all five nominees here (and it sadly isn’t even close, given my complaints regarding the two last-place nominees and my suggestions about The Last Repair Shop), The Barber of Little Rock uses its thirty-five-minute runtime to dip into the gradual cultural and economical shifts of its titular community through the eyes of Washington. His answer: To create People Trust: a nonprofit bank to help those in need. The Barber of Little Rock feels like the next step in bringing awareness not just to this town and its situation, but to what Washington feels like are potential solutions that can be utilized by similar communities. While The Barber of Little Rock wasn’t exactly my favourite of the shortlisted nominees, I feel like it’s almost a no-brainer to place in first place here (with only Nai Nai & Wài Pó close behind it).
Rating: 3.5/5
Who I Want To Win: I’m going to stick with my top three shorts, The Barber of Little Rock, Nai Nai & Wài Pó, and The Last Repair Shop. I had my biggest takeaways from all three of these short films. While I don’t think any of these nominees are outright outstanding (quite a few of the best documentary shorts didn’t get spotlighted here), they’re ones that I am happy to root for.
Who I Think Will Win: Right now, The ABCs of Book Burning has been the favourite to win since even before the nominations got announced, so it likely has the highest odds of winning. Having said that, Nai Nai & Wài Pó feels like the documentary short that could as it climbs its way up the award season ladder and into the hearts of viewers. Then there’s The Last Repair Shop which has had its steady fanbase for months now. I still think this is presently The ABCs of Book Burning’s award, but that can change if these other two nominees gain enough steam.
The Academy Awards Project will continue tomorrow with another category. We’re going to rank every single nominee in every single category, Monday through Friday. You don’t want to miss it!
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.