2023 Oscar Nominated Shorts – Live Action at Real Art Ways

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2023 Oscar Nominated Shorts – Live Action
2023 Oscar Nominated Shorts – Live Action, opens Friday, February 17, 2023. Individual trailers can be viewed on https://shorts.tv/.
Ivalu – Denmark, directed by Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan, 17 min.

Pipaluk lives in a Greenlandic settlement with her father and older sister Ivalu. Pipaluk is not happy because Ivalu has disappeared and her father does not care. At night, Pipaluk dreams of a raven that leads her to Ivalu.

Night Ride – Norway, directed by Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen, 16 min.

A cold night in December. Ebba waits for the tram to go home after a party, but the ride takes an unexpected turn.

Le Pupille – Italy, directed by Alice Rohrwacher, 39 min.

A story about pure and selfish desires, freedom and devotion, and the anarchy that is capable of flowering in the minds of girls within the confines of a strict religious boarding school at Christmas.

The Red Suitcase – Luxembourg, directed by Cyrus Neshvad, 18 min.

Luxembourg airport. Late at night. A veiled 16-year-old Iranian girl is afraid to take her red suitcase on the automatic carpet. She pushes back the moment to walk through the arrival gate and seems more and more terrified.

An Irish Goodbye – UK, directed by Tom Berkeley and Ross White, 23 min.

In rural Northern Ireland, a pair of estranged brothers are reunited after a premature death.

2023 Oscar Nominated Shorts – Animation
2023 Oscar Nominated Shorts – Animation, opens Friday, February 17, 2023. Individual trailers can be viewed on https://shorts.tv/.

Four of the films are suitable for kids 10 and up, but the final film, My Year of Dicks, is for adult audiences only.

An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It – Australia, directed by Lachlan Pendragon, 12 min.

A mysterious talking ostrich helps an office worker in need uncover the flaws in his stop motion universe.

The Flying Sailor – Canada, directed by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, 8 min.

When a nearby ship explodes, a sailor embarks on an unexpected existential journey. An exploration of the fragility of life through a sailor’s near-death experience inspired by the real-life catastrophic Halifax explosion of 1917.

Ice Merchants – Portugal/France/UK, directed by João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano, 15 min.

Every day, a father and his son jump with a parachute from their vertiginous cold house, attached to a cliff, to go to the village on the ground, far away where they sell the ice they produce daily.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse – UK, directed by Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud, 33 min.

Four unusual friends, a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse, share truths about life as they search for a home. However, the boy learns that home is not always a fixed place.

My Year of Dicks – United States, directed by Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribbon, 26 min.

My Year of Dicks is intended for adult audiences only and is not suitable for children. There will be a short break before the start of the film so that patrons, if they choose, can exit the auditorium. 

Pam tries very hard to lose her virginity and always searches for “the one”. She’s not alone, her best friends are with her.

Science on Screen: The Botany of Desire
Real Art Ways Science on Screen® season invites you to experience the unique combination of a feature film and a relevant talk from a notable local figure in science.
Film: The Botany of Desire 

“… the botanical evolution of and human interaction with apples, tulips, cannibis and potatoes. The observations are enlightening.” – Seanax.com

Michael Pollan, a professor of journalism and a student of food, presents the history of four plants, each of which found a way to make itself essential to humans, thus ensuring widespread propagation. Apples, for sweetness; tulips, for beauty; marijuana, for pleasure; and, potatoes, for sustenance. Each has a story of discovery and adaptation; each has a symbiotic relationship with human civilization. The film tells these stories and examines these relationships.

 

Movie poster for the botany of desire

 

Pre-Film Talk | 6:30 PM 
Speaker: Dr. Nikki Patel

Dr. Patel’s research and teaching focuses on field and experimental biology involving both ferns and moss evolution as well as a broad interest in plant global biodiversity. With unprecedented biodiversity loss and global change ongoing, evolutionary and organismal biology are at the forefront of these challenges. As an organismal biologist, Dr. Patel’s main objectives in the classroom are not only to foster content mastery in evolution, genetics, and cell biology, but also to ensure that students leave her classes grounded in the application of scientific thinking toward meeting challenges in the world, in their professions, and in their everyday lives. This emphasis on functional knowledge is the best way to produce graduates prepared for careers in science.

Aqua Science on Screen logo, with an S in a circle

Science on Screen is an initiative of the COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, with major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.

The Whale

“Brendan Fraser gives the performance of a lifetime.” – Time Out

“The humanity of his performance will floor you.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“Will melt your heart” – BBC

“A performance for the ages.” – Variety 

Synopsis:

A reclusive English teacher suffering from severe obesity attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter for one last chance at redemption.

Oscar Nominations

Actor in a Leading Role – Brendan Fraser

Actress in a Supporting Role – Hong Chau

Makeup and Hairstyling

 

 

Living

“This wise and moving drama is an existential journey that celebrates learning how to live life, in all its fleeting beauty.” – AARP Movies for Grownups 

“It’s a film that steps back to consider the rituals and routines we perpetuate, the ways we’ve changed since the last break. And the ways we haven’t.” – New York Times

“An absolutely gorgeous, heartbreaking piece of work.” – Rolling Stone

“Stars Bill Nighy in a role for which he will be remembered.” – Deadline

95% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

Living is the story of an ordinary man, reduced by years of oppressive office routine to a shadow existence, who at the eleventh hour makes a supreme effort to turn his dull life into something wonderful.

Oscar Nominations

Best Actor – Bill Nighy

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

 

 

Science on Screen: Honeyland
Real Art Ways Science on Screen® season invites you to experience the unique combination of a feature film and a relevant talk from a notable local figure in science.
Film: Honeyland

“Complex, resonant, and visually magnificent.” – Spirituality & Health 

“A gripping, Sundance-winning documentary.” – Observer (UK) 

“Stunningly beautiful and quietly powerful, this is a portrait of a vanishing way of life and of a determined woman who’s just trying to make her way in the world.” – Empire Magazine

“Tells a story of a forgotten place so strange that most westerners couldn’t even imagine it.” – The Hollywood Reporter

100% on Rotten Tomatoes

A woman utilizes ancient beekeeping traditions to cultivate honey in the mountains of North Macedonia. When a neighboring family tries to do the same, it becomes a source of tension as they disregard her wisdom and advice.

In Turkish with English subtitles.

A woman and a young boy staring at a beehive.

Pre-Film Talk | 6:30 PM 
Speaker: Dr. Kelsey Fisher

Dr. Kelsey Fisher works for the Department of Entomology at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Her expertise is in insect movement and dispersal ecology, behavior, pollinator conservation, agriculture pest management, spatial modeling and analyses. Her most recent research addresses research questions that provide management recommendations for other insects, including bumble bees and spotted lanternfly. More information on Dr. Fisher can be found here.

Dr. Fisher’s presentation will showcase the different types of bee species (380 species) in Connecticut. She will also discuss the delicate place bees hold in the ecosystem.

A headshot of a blonde woman wearing glasses and a black shirt.

Aqua Science on Screen logo, with an S in a circle

Science on Screen is an initiative of the COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, with major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.

Science on Screen: The Hidden Life of Trees
Real Art Ways Science on Screen® season invites you to experience the unique combination of a feature film and a relevant talk from a notable local figure in science.
Film: The Hidden Life of Trees 

“The Hidden Life of Trees uses the sensorial capacities of cinema to thrillingly visualize Wohlleben’s observations.” – New York Times

“It’s a documentary full of subtle, quiet moments, reminding us that a liberal dose of wonder is something quite powerful. Rather than taking nature for granted, it makes us appreciate it all the more for its many intricacies.” – Film Inquiry 

Branching off of his bestselling book, renowned forester and writer Peter Wohlleben guides us through his most precious ideas and understanding of how trees work in this enlightening documentary. Presenting ecological, biological and academic expertise with matter of fact candor, Peter inspires us to really see the forest for the trees. Traveling through Germany, Poland, Sweden and Vancouver, Peter discusses, debates and explains the amazing process of life, death and regeneration he has observed in the woodland, and the amazing scientific mechanisms behind these wonders of which we are too often blissfully unaware.

Based on his best-selling book that has profoundly changed our understanding of forests, renowned forester and writer Peter Wohlleben guides us through his most enlightening ideas. Presenting his ecological, biological and academic expertise with infectious enthusiasm and candor, Wohlleben travels through Germany, Poland, Sweden, and Vancouver to illustrate the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland for decades. The result is an immersive and eye-opening look at the scientific mechanisms behind these wonders of nature.

The hidden life of trees movie poster.

 

Pre-Film Talk | 6:30 PM 
Speaker: Dr. Susan Masino, of Trinity College.

Dr. Masino is the Vernon D. Roosa Professor of Applied Science at Trinity College and joint appointment in Neuroscience and Psychology. Her research focuses on promoting and restoring brain health, with a particular interest in adenosine, and on the relationship among metabolism, brain activity, and behavior. For nearly 100 years a metabolic therapy called a “ketogenic diet” has been used to treat seizures, and recent mechanistic insights – including the role of adenosine – hold translational implications for brain health and diverse disorders.

In addition to her laboratory research, Dr. Masino is interested in how public policies can improve brain health – with a special focus on New England’s amazing forests – and involved in local educational and environmental issues. During 2018-2019, she was a Charles Bullard Fellow in Forest Research at Harvard and published the seminal paper on the benefits of pro forestation for climate change mitigation, biodiversity, and public health.

Aqua Science on Screen logo, with an S in a circle

Science on Screen is an initiative of the COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, with major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.

Science on Screen: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Real Art Ways Science on Screen® season invites you to experience the unique combination of a feature film and a relevant talk from a notable local figure in science.
Film: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

“A deeply informed and fully expressed portrait of a culture most of us know little about.” – Observer 

“The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind– feeds our hunger for inspiring tales in these desperate times with a beautifully engineered narrative latticework of hardship, hope, and know-how.” – Los Angeles Times

“As inspiring and morally upright as you’d expect from a film with such rousing source material drawn from real life.” – RogerEbert.com

A 13-year-old boy is thrown out of the school he loves when his family can no longer afford the fees. He sneaks into the library and learns how to build a windmill to save his village from a famine.

A young boy standing on top of a windmill.

 

Pre-Film Talk | 6:30 PM 
Speaker: Dr. Steven Nathan

Dr. Nathan is trained in Paleoceanography, Micropaleontology and Biostratigraphy. His research spans topics ranging from paleoclimate to geothermal energy. Before Eastern, Dr. Nathan taught at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Smith and Mount Holyoke Colleges, and several community colleges. He holds a B.S. in Biology (Springfield College), a B.S. in Physics, a M.S. in Geology, and a Ph.D. in Geoscience (all at UMass). He was a senior post-doctoral research associate with the Massachusetts Geological Survey.

Aqua Science on Screen logo, with an S in a circle

Science on Screen is an initiative of the COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, with major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.

Science on Screen: The Birds
Real Art Ways Science on Screen® season invites you to experience the unique combination of a feature film and a relevant talk from a notable local figure in science.
Film: The Birds 

“Alfred Hitchcock has fashioned a major work of cinematic art.” – Village Voice

“A thriller classic from the master of suspense.” – Empire Magazine

“Unmistakably, one of the master’s [Hitchcock’s] best.” – Austin Chronicle

Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) meets Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) in a San Francisco pet store and decides to follow him home. She brings with her the gift of two love birds and they strike up a romance. One day birds start attacking children at Mitch’s sisters party. A huge assault starts on the town by attacking birds.

 

A portrait of a woman screaming while getting attacked by birds.

 

Pre-Film Talk | 6:30 PM 
Speaker: Dr. Mathew Kamm, of Zoo New England.

Dr. Matthew Kamm is a Boston-based wildlife biologist who specializes in ornithology. Matt has studied the natural history of wild birds while working for Mass Audubon and during his Ph.D work at Tufts University, with a focus on understanding songbird migration and the life history of American kestrels. He currently works as the Conservation Outreach Coordinator for Zoo New England.

Aqua Science on Screen logo, with an S in a circle

Science on Screen is an initiative of the COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, with major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.

Women Talking

“One of the cinematic events of the year.” – IndieWire

“Extraordinary emotional force.” – Los Angeles Times 

“A remarkable ensemble cast.” – The New York Times

“A powerful, moving tribute to quiet strength – and, unexpectedly, to hope.” – Seattle Times 

“An honest, raging, caring experience.” – Time Out

90% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

Do nothing. Stay and fight. Or leave. In 2010, the women of an isolated religious community grapple with reconciling a brutal reality with their faith.

Starring Frances McDormand, Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, and Jessie Buckley.

Directed by Sarah Polley

The Fabelmans

“The year’s best movie…you won’t forget this classic.” – ABC News

“Spielberg’s marvel coming-of-age story and one of his most personal.” – Chicago Reader 

“Reckons with the idea that cinema – like any art form – can be powerful and revealing and magical.” – Filmspotting 

“Best movie of the year” – The Times

“One of the most impressive, enlightening, vital things [Spielberg’s] ever done.” – Rolling Stone

91% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

Young Sammy Fabelman falls in love with movies after his parents take him to see “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Armed with a camera, Sammy starts to make his own films at home, much to the delight of his supportive mother. Part memoir, part ode to the power of the movies, The Fabelmans finds Steven Spielberg digging at the family roots that helped make him a beloved filmmaker — and proves he hasn’t lost his magic touch.

Directed by Steven Spielberg.

Oscar Nominations

Best Picture

Best Director – Steven Spielberg

Actor in a Supporting Role – Judd Hirsch

Actress in a Leading Role – Michelle Williams

Music (Original Score)

Production Design

Writing (Original Screenplay)

 

 

The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma & Silk Road Ensemble

“Earnest and engrossing.” – Times (UK)

“An irresistible kaleidoscope of music and good fellowship.” – Seattle Times 

“This film offers an inspiring look at creative people from very different walks of life who nonetheless communicate beautifully with one another. They don’t need to speak a common language: Their dazzling music says it all.” – Washington Post

Synopsis:

Filmmaker Morgan Neville profiles cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, an eclectic group of musicians who tour worldwide.

 

Pavarotti

“Pavarotti paints a simple picture of a complicated man, but it hits the high notes: the performances, the cheers, the adulation. Consider it a greatest hits.” – Detroit News

“An engaging film, filled with vintage snapshots, interviews with friends and former colleagues, and, most of all, that marvelously distinctive voice, with all of the emotion that it could convey.” – St. Louis Post-Dispatch 

“There’s a lot to smile at here.” – New York Times 

Synopsis:

Featuring never-before-seen footage, concert performances and intimate interviews, filmmaker Ron Howard examines the life and career of famed opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

 

The Last Waltz

“The Band’s music has such intrinsic strength and resilience that it can’t help but break through those self-imposed barriers and set itself and the audience free.” – Washington Post 

“The greatest rock concert movie ever made – and maybe the best rock movie, period.” – Chicago Tribune 

“One of the greatest movie experiences.” – Detroit Free Press

98% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

Seventeen years after joining forces as the backing band for rockabilly cult hero Ronnie Hawkins, Canadian roots rockers The Band call it quits with a lavish farewell show at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom on Nov. 25, 1976. Filmed by Martin Scorsese, this documentary features standout performances by rock legends such as Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell and Muddy Waters, as well as interviews tracing the group’s history and discussing road life.

NO BEARS

“A piercingly self-aware portrait of an artist who is not afraid to depict himself and his craft as aloof or insular.” – Observer (UK)

“Has an urgency all of its own.” – London Evening Standard 

“The more you think about it, the more layers there seem to be and the more you realize how much this film has to say about lives made small by restrictions that can, and do, result in tragedy.” – The Spectator

Listed on New York Times’ Top 10 Movies of the Year

100% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

Jafar Panahi is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, commonly identified with the Iranian New Wave film movement. His films are known for their humanistic perspective on life in Iran, focusing on the hardships of children, the impoverished, and women.

After several years of conflict with the Iranian government over the content of his films, Panahi was arrested in March 2010 and later charged with propaganda against the Iranian government. He served a six year jail sentence and a 20-year ban on making films. His most recent films were smuggled out of Iran and were shown internationally, including at Real Art Ways.

He was again arrested and sentenced to six years in prison in July of 2022 amid an intensifying government crackdown of the film industry. He was among three directors arrested. Panahi was recently released from prison in Iran.

This film bears witness to Panahi’s incisive filmmaking, while urging viewers to examine the complex layers of a deceptively simple story: a man oppressed and suppressed by his country.

In Persian with English subtitles.

Exposing Muybridge

“Makes clear that it’s subject’s images still have a lot to show us” – New York Times 

100% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

Few figures have played such a seminal role in our moving picture history as the revolutionary photographer Eadweard Muybridge. His unprecedented images of running horses instantly transformed the camera into a machine of unmatched powers of perception and persuasion, and set the course for the birth of cinema. Muybridge was a complicated man whose personal story was imbued with ambition, success, loss, and even cold-blooded murder. He directly inspired numerous artists from Francis Bacon to David Hockney to Gary Oldman, whose passionate contribution to this documentary is exceptional.

 

The Menu

“Maliciously entertaining.” – Observer (UK) 

“Delectably unhinged.” – ABC News

“Bizarre, original, and loaded with revelatory surprises with every turn of the page.” – Observer 

“Perfectly executed meal of a movie.” – Financial Times 

Synopsis:

A couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.

 

Utama

“A powerful tale of survival.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“A gentle and superbly shot film.” – Guardian 

“Equally stunning and devastating.” – San Jose Mercury News 

“Meditative and deeply romantic.” – RogerEbert.com

95% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

In the arid Bolivian highlands, an elderly Quechua couple has been living a tranquil life for years. While he takes their small herd of llamas out to graze, she keeps house and walks for miles with the other local women to fetch precious water. When an uncommonly long drought threatens everything they know, Virginio and Sisa must decide whether to stay and maintain their traditional way of life or admit defeat and move in with family members in the city. Their dilemma is precipitated by the arrival of their grandson Clever, who comes to visit with news. The three of them must face, each in their own way, the effects of a changing environment, the importance of tradition, and the meaning of life itself. This visually jaw-dropping debut feature by photographer-turned-filmmaker Alejandro Loayza Grisi is lensed by award-winning cinematographer Barbara Alvarez (Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Woman) and won the Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema Dramatic) at the Sundance Film Festival.

In Quechua and Spanish with English subtitles.

You Resemble Me

“A blunt, most effective portrait of someone pushed and pulled into a state of permanent imbalance.” – TheWrap 

“A powerful cry from the heart.” – Time Out 

“A gripping story of dislocation and belonging.” The Hollywood Reporter 

Synopsis:

You Resemble Me tells the true story of Hasna Ait Boulahcen, a woman who was falsely accused of being Europe’s first female suicide bomber. Cultural and intergenerational trauma erupt in this story about two sisters on the outskirts of Paris. After the siblings are torn apart, the eldest, Hasna, struggles to find her identity, leading to a choice that shocks the world. Director Dina Amer takes on one of the darkest issues of our time and deconstructs it in an intimate story about family, love, sisterhood, and belonging.

In French with English subtitles.

EO

“An astonishment…wild, boldly expressionistic.” – The New York Times

“Hypnotic. Bold in a way few contemporary films truly are.” – Sight and Sound 

98% on Rotten Tomatoes

Synopsis:

The world is a mysterious place when seen through the eyes of an animal. EO, a grey donkey with melancholic eyes, meets good and bad people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel of fortune randomly turn his luck into disaster and his despair into unexpected bliss. But not even for a moment does he lose his innocence.

In Polish with English subtitles.

2023 Oscar Nominee for Best International Film