Oscar-Nominated Documentary Shorts Directors Talk About Their Impact

Feb 28, 2026 10:35am PT Oscar-Nominated Documentary Shorts Directors on Their Works and Hoping to Make an Impact: ‘We Wanted People to See This Raw, Unflinching Portrait’ By Addie Morfoot Plus Icon Addie Morfoot Contributor @kamorfoot Latest ‘Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’ Star Meredith Marks on Being ‘Sick Of’ Britani Bateman, Forgiving Lisa Barlow and Where She Stands With Jen Shah 1 month ago Sedona International Film Festival Unveils 32nd Annual Film Lineup (EXCLUSIVE) 1 month ago Sundance ACLU Panel Filmmakers Discuss Mounting Government Censorship 1 month ago See All ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection The five Oscar-nominated doc shorts pack a lot of punch into their brief time on screen. The filmmakers talked to Variety about their documentaries. All the Empty Rooms Joshua Seftel’s “All the Empty Rooms” explores the bedrooms of eight American children who were killed during a school shooting. Each room, preserved by the victim’s parents, looks exactly how it did when each child left on their final day off to school. “There are over 100 school shootings a year in the U.S., and it’s so disheartening to me that this has become normal and acceptable to us,” says Seftel. “I wanted to make a film that could reframe this issue. To remove the issue from the usual political debate and focus on the part we all agree upon: That we all want our children to be safe at school.” Seftel hopes that the 34-minute Netflix doc will help Americans across the country fully appreciate the human toll of school shootings. “My hope is that by laying bare the stories of these empty rooms and these forgotten families who are grappling with grief and loss, we can begin to feel something again.” Related Stories Prime Video’s ‘The Gray House’ Is a Frustrating Depiction of Espionage During the Civil War: TV Review 'Dao' Review: French-Senegalese Master Alain Gomis Builds a Swirling, Ecstatic Family Epic From One Wedding and a Funeral Children No More: Were and Are Gone Popular on Variety Directed by Hilla Medalia and produced by the documentary industry’s grande dame, Sheila Nevins, “Children No More: Were and Are Gone” follows Tel Aviv activists who gather weekly to demonstrate their opposition to the war in Gaza with a silent vigil for the children killed in Israeli attacks. “When I first encountered the vigil and experienced the power of their activism, I immediately felt the need to document the experience,” Medalia says. “Their silence was powerful — a tool that encourages reflection rather than explanation — and I felt a very clear sense of courage in a simple action filled with deep meaning. As a filmmaker, I had been grappling with my role and responsibilities during this war, and for me this work became a way to step outside our shared pain and to look directly at things that are absent from the media — including the devastating human toll of Israel’s policies in Gaza, especially on children who were full of life and possibility and are now no more.” The film is being distributed by Roadside Attractions. The Devil Is Busy The 32-minute HBO short takes viewers on a daylong journey with Tracii, the head of security at a women’s healthcare clinic in Atlanta, as she works to ensure the safety of women seeking abortions in the face of new restrictions and persistent protests. Directors Geeta Gandbhir (also Oscar-nominated for “The Perfect Neighbor”) and Christalyn Hampton say that they made the film “because we wanted everyone to see what this intense, disturbing new reality looks like on a human level. We wanted viewers to experience the impact of this abortion decision and see the complexity of emotions around abortion as it relates to faith, agency, power, and how it hurts women and the people struggling to care for them. We wanted people to see this raw, unflinching portrait long after the media and the activism had died down and no one was talking about abortion. We didn’t want these women to be forgotten.” The Life and Death of Brent Renaud In 2022, filmmaker Brent Renaud became the first American journalist to die when Russian soldiers killed him while reporting on the war in Ukraine. His younger brother and lifelong filmmaking partner, Craig Renaud, recovered Brent’s body and decided to make a film that weaves together decades of the brothers’ reporting from global conflict zones, including Iraq, Haiti, Somalia, and Central America. Renaud hopes that the 37-minute HBO doc incites change. “According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, it is the deadliest time to be a journalist on record. Since Brent’s death on March 13, 2022, more than 400 journalists and media workers have been killed worldwide,” Renaud says. “My hope is that the film will inspire people and governments to protect the free press, the right to witness and the right of journalists to report the news, and of the public to receive it.” Perfectly a Strangeness In Alison McAlpine’s “Perfectly a Strangeness,” three donkeys discover an abandoned astronomical observatory. McAlpine made the 15-minute film for several reasons. “I wanted to redefine what a story can be, working with texture, movement, light, shadow, reflections, sound, rhythm, no text, (thus) creating cinema that you want to touch like an exquisite painting, or a poem that you want to experience again and again,” McAlpine says. “I wanted to express not the well-known anthropomorphic view of animals, in particular donkeys, nor the familiar perception of astronomical observatories. But rather to immerse the viewer in a sensorial experience. which feels animalic, fresh, and unforgettable.” Jump to Comments Paul Thomas Anderson and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood Want ‘Melania’ Doc to Remove ‘Phantom Thread’ Music: Its Use Is a ‘Breach of Composer Agreement’ Amazon Blocks Mainstream Press From Watching ‘Melania’ Documentary at Kennedy Center ‘Melania’ Review: Brett Ratner’s First Lady Documentary Is a Cheeseball Infomercial of Staggering Inertia ‘Melania’ Director Brett Ratner Says He ‘Didn’t Have a Personal Relationship’ With Jeffrey Epstein Following Photo Leak Jimmy Kimmel Rips ‘Melania’ Box Office as ‘Very Sus’ and Roasts Audience Scores Being ‘1% Higher’ Than ‘The Godfather’: ‘I’m Sure Donald J. Corleone Had Nothing to Do With It’ ‘Melania’ Producer Marc Beckman on the Jonny Greenwood Dispute, the Tricky Politics of Licensing Stones or Prince Songs, and the First Lady’s Forthcoming Docuseries: ‘I Think Amazon MGM Got a Very Good Deal’ JavaScript is required to load the comments. Loading comments...