Oscar short film shortlist revealed

The Pearl Comb

The 2026 Best Documentary Short, Best Live Action Short Film and Best Animated Short Film shortlists were announced today, an exciting moment for filmmakers worldwide whose work had qualified by making it through tough festival competitions. Winning a short film Oscar can launch a career, but it's also one of the hardest things to achieve in the whole of the event, with literally hundreds of films under consideration in the initial stages.

Five films from each of these categories will make it to the next stage and the official Oscar nominations, which will be announced on 22 January. We'll eventually find out who the winners are at the main event on 15 March.

Those lists in full:

Best Short Documentary

• All The Empty Rooms
• All The Walls Came Down
• Armed Only With A Camera: The Life And Death Of Brent Renaud
• Bad Hostage
• Cashing Out
• Chasing Time
• Children No More: Were And Are Gone
• Classroom 4
• The Devil Is Busy
• Heartbeat
• Last Days On Lake Trinity
• On Healing Land, Birds Perch
• Perfectly A Strangeness
• Rovina’s Choice
• We Were The Scenery

Best Live Action Short Film

• Ado
• Amarela
• Beyond Silence
• The Boy With White Skin
• Butcher’s Stain
• Butterfly On A Wheel
• Dad’s Not Home
• Extremist
• A Friend Of Dorothy
• Jane Austen’s Period Drama
• Pantyhose
• The Pearl Comb
• Rock, Paper, Scissors
• The Singers
• Two People Exchanging Saliva
Best Animated Short Film
• Autokar
• Butterfly
• Cardboard
• Éiru
• Forevergreen
• The Girl Who Cried Pearls
• Hurikán
• I Died In Irpin
• The Night Boots
• Playing God
• The Quinta's Ghost
• Retirement Plan
• The Shyness Of Trees
• Snow Bear
• The Three Sisters