Live Action Shorts - all 5 nominees

DeKalb Elementary, Reed Van Dyk

This chilling retelling of a true story follows the relationship built between a potential school shooter and the office administrator who sits with him as she tries to keep him calm and non violent.  He diagnoses his own mental illness (with a backpack full of ammunition) and asks for the police to take him to a hospital as he is threatening to kill them.  It's impossible to watch this film - whatever side you are on - and not think, "this guy really shouldn't be able to buy weapons."  The woman who cares for him as he waits to surrender to police gives him love and respect while she quietly shakes with fear.

The Eleven O'Clock, Derin Seale and Josh Lawson

This isn't the live action short films first foray into who is the real doctor and who is the real patient, but it is hilarious all the same.  Two men, both claiming to be the psychiatrist and both claiming that the other is his patient battle it out to decide who should be thrown out from the doctor's office and who should stay and see the doctor's patients for the rest of the day.

My Nephew Emmett, Kevin Wilson, Jr.

My Nephew Emmett reminds us of the famous case in Mississippi in which a young black teenager has been accused by a white woman of whistling at her, the punishment for which is death.  Emmett's uncle Mose, the preacher, catches wind that he has been accused, and must sit in the house with the teenager without letting on that something terrible is about to happen.

The Silent Child, Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton

As a person who has had a passion for sign language since the 4th grade, The Silent Child was my favorite of the 5 excellent nominees.  Libby is the child who is quite clearly deaf, and she develops a relationship with a social worker who comes to her home to teach her sign language.  But her family, and especially her mother, live in fear that Libby won't be able to mainstream in school if she learns sign instead of learning to speak.  The sad injustice and prejudice facing deaf children is embodied in this film, which reminds us that a large majority of deaf children are in mainstream schools (at least in England) with no adaptive support.

Watu Wote/All of Us, Katja Benrath and Tobias Rosen

Another powerful retelling of a true story, this film follows a young Christian woman who must go home to visit her sick mother via the bus in Kenya among a majority of passengers who are Muslim.  While traveling, the bus is raided by Muslim terrorists, and they demand to separate the passengers so that they can murder any Christians aboard.  Her fellow passengers give her a hijab, they protect her, they hide her among the people as fellow passengers shout at the terrorists that this is not the Islam that they learned in the Q'uran.  Two passengers ultimately give their lives to save hers.

DeKalb Elementary Trailer:

The Eleven O'Clock Trailer:

The Silent Child trailer: