2025 Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts

Documentary Shorts - opening for daily screenings Fri 2/28 - 165min
Recommended for 18+

Instruments of a Beating Heart - 23min
Synopsis: A New York Times Op-Doc. First graders in a Tokyo public elementary school are presented with a challenge for the final semester: to form an orchestra and perform “Ode to Joy” at a school ceremony.

Incident - 30min
Synopsis: Through a montage of surveillance and police body-camera footage, a reconstruction of a deadly shooting by a Chicago police officer becomes an investigation into how a narrative begins to take shape in the aftermath.

I Am Ready, Warden - 37min
Synopsis: The latest documentary short film, from MTV Documentary Films, I AM READY, WARDEN, by acclaimed filmmaker Smriti Mundhra (INDIAN MATCHMAKING, ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN) tells the harrowing and emotionally charged story of John Henry Ramirez, a man convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Texas. Through his time on death row, the film offers a rare and intimate glimpse into his attempts to seek redemption and reconciliation. To gain access to the Texas prison system, Mundhra collaborated with journalist Keri Blakinger, whose New York Times Magazine article THE DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS PLAYERS OF DEATH ROW was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

The Only Girl in the Orchestra - 35min
Synopsis: Trailblazing double bassist Orin O’Brien was never one to seek the spotlight, but when Leonard Bernstein hired her in 1966 as the first female musician in the New York Philharmonic, she inevitably became the focus of media attention and, ultimately, one of the most renowned musicians of a generation.

Death By Numbers - 36min
Synopsis: DEATH BY NUMBERS turns an intimate lens on school shooting survivor Sam Fuentes’s journey to reclaim her power, processing trauma through journaling. To prepare for a confrontation with her assailant in his harrowing sentencing trial, she examines complex questions of collective hatred and justice.