As usual, this year's lineup of Oscar-nominated live-action shorts is a foreign affair.
Just as it is most years, the slate is dominated by European films – in this case, one from Norway, one from Germany, one from Ireland and one from Northern Ireland.
"Time Freak" is the sole American entry, a distinction that worked out well for last year's winner, "God of Love."
But two of this year's European entries, "Raju" (left) and "Tuba Atlantic," also share something with "God of Love": They come to the Oscars after first winning at last June's Student Academy Awards.
And one of the nominated filmmakers, Terry George, has been at the Oscars before in the feature-film categories. He was nominated twice in the past, for his screenplays for 1993's "In the Name of the Father" and 2004's "Hotel Rwanda."
Of the five nominees, two are short and largely comic, and three are longer and more serious (though two of those make substantial use of humor).
This is the second in TheWrap's survey of the three shorts categories. The films will open in theaters on Friday as part of a program put together by ShortsHD and Magnolia Pictures.
Also read: Oscar's Animated Shorts: Zombies Are Out for Pixar's Blood
"Pentecost"
Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
Set in Ireland in 1977, the 12-minute film centers on a soccer-loving young altar boy who suffers an incense-swinging mishap while serving mass, but is given a second chance.
That chance comes when an Archbishop comes to town for an important mass that the local priest treats like a major sporting event: "Let's see some grace, some vision," he says in a pre-mass pep talk. "Go out there and have the mass of your lives!"
The short is amusing and slight, with the kind of punchline at the end that's often found in this category's nominees. "Pentecost" is the type of film that frequently gets nominated, but never wins.
"Raju"
Max Zahle and Stefan Gieren
Made by German film students, "Raju" won the bronze medal for foreign films at the Student Academy Awards -- but because a bronze medal does not automatically qualify a student winner for the Oscars, it still had to qualify via film-festival wins or a theatrical release.
The short is set in India, where a German couple adopt a young boy from an orphanage. Everything seems fine for the first third of the film, though the audience can't help but feel a sense of dread – and sure enough, the boy disappears and what starts as a straightforward search for a lost child turns into a moral dilemma as the father learns more about his adopted son.
Zahle and Gieren explore East vs. West biases and Euro-centric attitudes in their film, which ends up being less of a narrative-driven piece than an open-ended meditation on morality.
