2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films Live Action

“Invincible” by Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron

From Canada, comes the live action short Invincible which was inspired by a true story. It is about a young teenage boy who at the beginning of the film finds himself being chased by police, calls his mother on the phone and then in an act of desperation kills himself to prevent being captured. The shocking opening is followed with a flash back to a happier time being spent with his parents and sister swimming at a lake. Then we learn that he must be returned to the juvenile facility that he has been sentenced to. For the rest of the short we share in his experiences of anguish over his situation. He is clearly in a great deal of pain despite the encouraging words from one of the counsellors. It is a gripping tale of the hopelessness and self-loathing that this young man went through before escaping through the only means that he could see.

“Red, White and Blue” by Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane

Finally, there is Red, White and Blue, starring Brittany Snow (of Pitch Perfect, American Dreams and Almost Family) in this searing indictment of the abortion laws that are taking over much of the country. Snow plays Rachel, a single mother of two young children who is trying to make ends meet by working as a waitress in a diner. Early we see that she is struggling to raise money for a much needed abortion. Because of the laws she must travel several hundred miles from her home to get to an abortion clinic and find a way for her kids to be cared for. Then she is able to make the long journey thanks to the generosity of a stranger she meets at the diner. It is only later that we learn how much worse the situation is for her. The short lays out just how inhumane some of these abortion laws are and the effect they have on the less fortunate.