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‘2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary’ Review: This Year’s Indelible Subjects Range From Farting Grannies to Musical Kids
The Academy selects one of its strongest crops in years, nominating meaningful entries that don't short-change artistry to make their political case.
In a strange reversal of a longstanding trend with the Academy, this year’s documentary short ballot is almost entirely domestic (which is to say, films made by or about Americans), while the feature doc category — where subtitles aren’t so common — is entirely international. Ingeniously conceived and gorgeously shot, Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers’ nearly-40-minute short (the upper limit the category allows) explores a Los Angeles Unified School District program to provide students with working instruments at no cost. Through these artisans — Dana Atkinson, Duane Michaels, Laty Moreno and Steve Bagmanyan — the filmmakers reveal the incredible diversity that comprises L.A.: an LAUSD alum who took years to accept his own homosexuality, immigrants of Armenian and Mexican origin, and a fiddle player discovered by Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
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