2026 Oscar Nominated Short Films Documentary

For the first time ever, I watched the Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts. Usually, they are hard to find and are only in theaters for a short time. The five films are all excellent and deserve to be nominated. Most of them deal with very troubling stories and situations. My two favorites are Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud and Children No More: “Were and Are Gone”.

Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud by Craig Renaud and Juan Arredondo, is a documentary about Brent Renaud, the first photojournalist to die in the Ukraine war in 2022. The film presents his amazing life as he traveled to dangerous locations, including war zones, to bring the stories to us. We see him in Guatemala, Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan and even in the streets of Chicago. Many of the scenes are quite horrific. It is a very memorable film about a man dedicated to his craft. His younger brother Craig, who often worked with him, co-directed the film. I highly recommend it. The film lasted 37 minutes.

A film that has a lasting impact is Children No More: “Were and Are Gone” by Hilla Medalia and Sheila Nevins. The documentary takes place in Israel during the conflict in Gaza and is about an organization of Israeli activists whose mission is to see that the thousands of Palestinian children who have been killed in the war are not forgotten. The group places photos of the children who have been killed on posters with their names and ages and the words Was and Is No More. Then they gather in large groups in public places and display the pictures. For many of the children there are no surviving photos, so they use paintings of flowers and plants in their place. The group’s demonstrations are completely silent, but they still must endure the insults of fellow Israelis who see them as traitors for not honoring the Israeli dead and hostages resulting from the conflict. The film is very emotional and is 36 minutes long.