David Farnor | On 18, Apr 2021

The Academy Awards are only a week away and, while we have a full list of Oscar nominees available on VOD, there’s one question in particular that we’re always asked at this point in the awards race: where can I watch the Oscar-nominated short films online?

Shorts are usually a sadly overlooked part of the Oscars, but VOD makes it easier than ever to catch up with the diminutive contenders ahead of the big night. Shorts International are the distributors of most films, releasing the ones it holds the rights to every year to rent or download – in fact, the company was one of iTunes’ earliest movie partners. In recent years, the short film landscape has become more varied, with Netflix increasingly producing and acquiring short films for global release and a number of documentaries also produced and published by news outlets such as The Guardian and The New York Times.

That means that some of this year’s short contenders are available for free on YouTube or included with a Netflix subscription, and only one title (Hunger Ward) currently not available at all (it has previously streamed online as part of limited Q&A events). You can rent the live-action nominees as one collection, while the animated nominees are also available to rent as a collection.

Live-action shorts

Feeling Through Doug Roland and Susan Ruzenski
Rent online through Curzon Home Cinema
Rent online through Eventive

The Letter Room Elvira Lind and Sofia Sondervan
Rent online through Curzon Home Cinema
Rent online through Eventive

The Present Farah Nabulsi
Watch on Netflix UK
Rent online through Curzon Home Cinema
Rent online through Eventive

Two Distant Strangers Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe
Rent online through Curzon Home Cinema
Rent online through Eventive

White Eye Tomer Shushan and Shira Hochman
Rent online through Curzon Home Cinema
Rent online through Eventive

Animated shorts

Burrow Madeline Sharafian and Michael Capbarat
Rent online through Eventive

Genius Loci Adrien Mérigeau and Amaury Ovise
Rent online through Eventive

If Anything Happens I Love You Will McCormack and Michael Govier
Watch on Netflix UK
Rent online through Eventive

Opera Erick Oh
Rent online through Eventive

Yes-People Gísli Darri Halldórsson and Arnar Gunnarsson
Rent online through Eventive

Documentary shorts

Colette Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard
Watch on YouTube

A Concerto Is a Conversation Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
Watch on YouTube

Do Not Split Anders Hammer and Charlotte Cook
Watch on YouTube

A Love Song for Latasha Sophia Nahli Allison and Janice Duncan
Watch on Netflix UK

Hunger Ward Skye Fitzgerald and Michael Scheuerman
Release date not yet announced

 

The Academy Awards take place on Monday 26th April at 1:30am. For more information on where to watch the Oscars online in the UK legally, click here.

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