In honor of the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday night, Burlington’s Capitol Theater is showing all 15 Oscar-nominated short films this weekend.
“It’s a really cool and unique opportunity to sit and watch all of these shorts that are nominated together as a package, rather than trying to track them all down online or try to go to different festivals,” said Tadd Good, film programmer for The Capitol.
Good said the theater has wanted to do this for a long time.
“The short films are very underrepresented in general,” he said. “But over the last year, we’ve been able to upgrade projection equipment due to some grants. So we finally have the opportunity to do it.”
The Capitol will show all five nominated Live-Action Shorts starting at 7 p.m. Friday; Animated Shorts will be shown starting at 7 p.m. Saturday; and Documentary Shorts will be shown starting at noon on Sunday.
The live-action and animated films back-to-back each run about the length of a feature film, while the documentary shorts combined are a bit longer.
Good said watching the variety of short films from across the world together in the theater is a different experience than watching them individually on a laptop or phone.
“You’re kind of on roller-coaster,” he said. “You might have one that’s really dark and sad, then you get one that’s really uplifting and hilarious. There’s nothing else like it. When filmmakers have 15 minutes instead of 90 minutes, they really pack it in there.”
Tickets for single screenings are $8 for adults and $6 for seniors, available online in advance or at the door. A package deal is also available for all three categories.
The Capitol is also throwing a free Oscars watch party that starts at 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Attendees can cast their own ballots and watch the ceremony on the big screen.
Here’s the full list of short films that will be shown at The Capitol this weekend:
LIVE ACTION SHORTS (Running Time: 110 minutes)
Rating equivalent of PG-13 for adult themes.
Ivalu– Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan, Denmark, 17 min.
Night Ride – Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen, Norway, 16 min.
Le Pupille – Alice Rohrwacher, Italy, 39 min.
The Red Suitcase – Cyrus Neshvad, Luxembourg, 18 min.
An Irish Goodbye – Tom Berkeley and Ross White, UK, 23 min.
ANIMATED SHORTS (Running Time: 95 min.)
Rating equivalent of PG-13/R. Four of the films are suitable for kids 10 and up, but the final film, MY YEAR OF DICKS, is for adult audiences only.
An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It – Lachlan Pendragon, Australia, 12 min.
The Flying Sailor – Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, Canada, 8 min.
Ice Merchants – João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano, Portugal/France/UK, 15 min.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse – Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud, UK, 33 min.
My Year of Dicks – Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon, USA, 26 min.
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS (to be offered as one program of 165 minutes)
Rating equivalent of PG-13/R for adult themes.
How Do You Measure a Year? – Jay Rosenblatt, USA, 29 min.
The Elephant Whisperers – Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga, India, 40 min.
Stranger at the Gate – Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones, USA, 29 min.
Haulout – Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev, UK, 25 min.
The Martha Mitchell Effect – Anne Alvergue and Debra McClutchy, USA, 40 min.
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