The Oscar Nominated Documentary Short Films

The Trump Resistance in Hollywood may have already begun. All five of the nominees are about immigrants, refugees, and/or the Syrian conflict.

Joe's Violin (2016) / Kahane Cooperman. At the end of WWII, a Holocaust survivor in a Displaced Persons camp traded a carton of cigarettes for a violin so he could play again. In modern day NYC, now a very elderly man, he donates the violin in a drive for musical instruments for disadvantaged children.

Extremis (2016) / Dan Krauss. This is not really – to me – a documentary. It is more of what used to be called (and maybe still is) cinéma vérité. That is, the camera follows people around with no commentary. In this film, we are in a ICU where two families have to decide whether to unplug their loved ones and let them die in comfort or have them surgically connected to an oxygen/feeding tube until nature takes it course.

4.1 Miles (2016) / Daphne Matziaraki. True events shot mainly with handheld cameras. Off the Greek island of Lesbos the Coast Guard is tasked with rescuing refugees fleeing war from a base in Turkey. During one long day, a single crew goes on three rescue missions, pulling people off sinking boats and out of the water. Sometimes that can’t save everybody. Powerful

Watani: My Homeland (2016) / Marcel Mettelsiefen. A mother and her three children living in Aleppo make the decision to leave their home country. The father is missing – taken by ISIS – and probably dead but they can’t be sure. We follow them as they go first to Turkey and then to Germany where they are received with a warm welcome and a nice, safe place to live.

The White Helmets (2016) / Orlando von Einsiedel. The White Helmets are teams of Syrian volunteers who vow to go unarmed to areas that have been attacked and rescue anyone regardless of which side of the conflict (or on no side) they are on. One of the two teams we see in operation is in Aleppo. They are the ones who rescued the famous “Miracle Baby,” an infant about a week old trapped in the rubble of a demolished building for 16 hours. The Miracle Baby makes an appearance one year later. Here is a news story that ran at the time. You can see tears on the eyes of the rescuer who first holds the baby.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h0VDhENotI

My choices to win: 1st, The White Helmets; 2nd 4.1 Miles
Will win: Joe’s Violin
Biggest rebuke to the U.S.: Watani: My Homeland

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