It was the Movies’ big night, and a big night for Shorts too! Doc Shorts even got a rare shoutout during Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue, and at one point the telecast practically ground to a halt thanks to the sheer volume of cheering in the auditorium.

Just a few years ago, the three short film categories were nearly dropped from the broadcast altogether. This year, though, they delivered some of the night’s best moments: a rare piece of Oscar history repeated itself, one winning film’s central subject made a powerful plea on stage, and the filmmakers used their time to share heartfelt messages of hope — and remind us of the power of art to shape a better world.⁠

Congrats to all the nominees, but here are the winners, along with short commentary from S/W co-founder, Jason Sondhi. 

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Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film

Winner: The Girl Who Cried Pearls by Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski

Smart money had coalesced around Butterfly, and we chose Retirement Plan in our official prediction post. All this shows how the machinations of award season can obscure more than they clarify, because if you asked us last June what would win, this would have been our pick. It’s a fine choice too—we really like the film—and it’s well deserved that Lavis and Szczerbowski earn their statuettes 19 years after failing to win for Madame Tutli-Putli. The legacy of that short has grown through the years with its continued success online, to the point that it is now unquestionably a modern classic. Congrats to the National Film Board for this win, and here’s hoping The Girl Who Cried Pearls can follow a similar trajectory. 

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Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film

Winner: All the Empty Rooms by Joshua Seftel

Another win for Netflix, and another redemption story, with Seftel earning a statuette in his second try. All the Empty Rooms was our predicted winner and in our minds a worthy one—it’s a tasteful and truly moving film experience, containing a vital message against the normalization of school shootings in America. Accompanied on stage by the mother of Jackie, one of the murdered children whose rooms were photographed in the film, Seftel ceded the mic, and her heartfelt plea ended up being one of the most powerful moments of the evening. 

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Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film

Winner (Tie!): The Singers by Sam Davis & Two People Exchanging Saliva by Natalie Musteata & Alexandre Singh

Holy moly, history made! Only the 7th tie in Oscar history, and the first since 2012. Pundits were split between the two films, and we were too. Davis has graced the pages of S/W many times, and we featured Musteata and Singh’s film in November. It was hard to choose, and ultimately, the Academy didn’t have to, with both film teams having their moment on the stage. The split win also recognizes the two most effective acquirers of Oscar shorts right now—Netflix and The New Yorker. 

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View previous Oscar-nominated films, winners, and further coverage from the awards on our dedicated CHANNEL.

Whether you believe in aliens or not, the idea of communicating with another species remains a compelling prospect for many. For storytellers in particular, narratives about alien contact continue to hold enduring appeal for a range of reasons – whether as a way to explore humanity’s place in the universe or as a mirror reflecting contemporary society. The challenge, as always with such well-trodden territory, is finding a way to tell the story without it feeling stale or derivative. It’s a challenge taken on by filmmaker Adebukola Bodunrin, whose background in experimental animation helped shape her SXSW short We Are Not Alone.

“We Are Not Alone is a lo-fi sci-fi parable about connection and expectation, but underneath it’s about the false promise of the American Dream”

“Post-Covid, I found myself thinking about isolation and the quiet humiliation of feeling left behind”, Bodunrin reveals as we discuss why she wanted to bring Ezra Claytan Daniels’ short comic (of the same name) to the screen. Adapting that original story into what the director describes as a “lo-fi sci-fi parable about connection and expectation”, We Are Not Alone stands out as one of the more original pieces of recent science-fiction filmmaking we’ve encountered, taking a somewhat familiar premise and transforming it into something unexpected and memorable.

That sense of distinctiveness is largely rooted in Bodunrin’s aesthetic approach. Shooting on Kodak Ektachrome 16mm, the filmmaker incorporated the short’s animated elements directly onto the film stock – painting, scratching, printing, and etching onto its surface. Yet this visual strategy is far from a gimmick; it serves a clear expressive purpose. The 16mm format lends the film a timeless quality, reinforcing the mysterious tone of the narrative (the alien presence is never explained). Meanwhile, the animation gives that presence a tangible dimension, almost as if the extraterrestrials are communicating through the screen itself. As Bodunrin explains:

“I wasn’t interested in abandoning my animation practice. I wanted to contaminate the live-action world with it. The goal was to create a hybrid form where the handmade marks felt like an emotional undercurrent, almost like the characters’ inner language bleeding onto the film itself . . . I was interested in creating a parallel visual language, something like hieroglyphics running beside the narrative. The marks aren’t decorative. They function as a second voice, one that feels ancient, mechanical, and slightly alien.”

“I wanted to challenge myself to direct a live-action narrative while still working through an analog, tactile process. I wasn’t interested in abandoning my animation practice,” Bodunrin discussing her production

As a science-fiction fan, I was especially taken with Bodunrin’s spin on the first-contact narrative. The film’s use of language – both the imagined language of the aliens and the visual language of cinema itself – felt inventive, playful, and genuinely engaging. In that sense, We Are Not Alone brought to mind Arrival by Denis Villeneuve. The two films are, of course, very (VERY) different in scale and approach, but honestly I can’t think of higher praise to give this short or its director.

Looking ahead, Bodunrin has more exciting projects ahead. Next on the horizon is a new experimental short that will continue her exploration of “direct intervention on film as both image and object,” pushing the technique toward “more intricate, layered mark-making and abstraction”. She’s also developing another short alongside writer Ezra Claytan Daniels, which the filmmakers describe as focusing on “the psychology and performance of online email scams.” If We Are Not Alone is any indication of what to expect, both projects are definitely ones to keep on the radar.