Earlier this week, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend an event for the Academy Award nominated short films. Mingling among the talented men and women up for Oscars in Best Animated Short, Best Documentary Short, and Best Live Action Short was an absolute pleasure. Moreover, it’s a chance to realize just what goes into getting these shorts made, how little money there is in it, and the complete passion projects that they are. Just getting nominated by the Academy is a major win for them. However, out of the fifteen, only three end up as winners, and that’s what we’ll be talking about today. I’ll run down each of the categories, tell you what’s nominated, and end up with a prediction about what might win, or at least what the frontrunners are. Remember, these are playing in theaters this weekend, so if you’re curious, be sure to check them out! Below you’ll see my brief thoughts on all three of the Oscar short form categories. Then, I’ll make my picks. Give it a look and keep in mind that these are in advance of my final predictions, so there’s a chance this could still change. Best Animated Short The animated category always has the most widely seen of the lot, and that’s again true this year. Hair Love and Kitbull have been seen by (comparatively) the masses, which always gives them an upper hand. The former comes through Sony Pictures Animation, while the latter is Pixar (specifically the experimental SparkShorts program they run), and each has an emotional through line. Hair Love concerns a black father trying to do his daughter’s hair for the first time, and it packs a punch at the end. Kitbull is about the unlikely friendship between a pitbull and a stray kitten. The others here? There’s Dcera (Daughter), Memorable, and Sister. Dcera follows two people struggling to communicate, while Memorable follows a painter and his spouse. Both are lovely but won’t win. Then, there’s the sleeper of the category in Sister. Inspired by the Chinese “one child” policy, it sees a man looking back on his life and wondering what existence without his little sister would have been like. Again, emotion reigns supreme. Hair Love and Sister seem like the frontrunners here, and you could easily flip a coin between them. Prediction: Hair Love Alternate: Sister — Best Documentary Short In the documentary field, there’s almost exclusively depressing material, [...]