2026 Oscar-Nominated Short Films
Detroit Film Theatre
5200 John R Street (inside of the Detroit Institute of Arts)
Detroit
Feb. 20, 2026
A dank dive bar becomes an unlikely stage for the best singing competition you’ve ever heard (“The Singers,” directed by Sam A. Davis).
A stunning black-and-white sci-fi short film brings high design and queer romance into a world where it's illegal to kiss (“Two People Exchanging Saliva,” directed by Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteat).
Middle Eastern politics have major ramifications for a butcher (“Butcher’s Stain,” directed by Meyer Levinson-Blount).
Three sisters compete for the love of a sailor on an isolated island in the middle of nowhere (“The Three Sisters,” directed by Konstantin Bronzit).
Those are among the wide-ranging topics, stories and styles embodied in this year’s 2026 Oscar Nominated Short Films in the animation and live action categories, each boasting five shorts each.
This year, Detroit Film Theatre added a red carpet premiere for its opening night of showing the shorts. The move makes sense and adds some welcome fanfare. This is the Detroit Film Theatre’s marquee event after all, drawing thousands across metro Detroit to see these shorts in one single program. (It’s one of the few in the country that package them this way).
Even for big-time theater lovers, it’s an endurance run. The event clocks in at over 200 minutes of run time with a 25 minute intermission between programs.
This year, with such a varied line-up of knock-out films, I wish it went even longer.
Major stunners include “A Friend of Dorothy,” one of the sweetest odes to an unlikely friendship across race lines and generational divides. Directed by Lee Knight, it’s powered by performers on opposite ends of their careers. Living legend Miriam Margolyes plays an elderly patron of the arts who takes a queer teenager (played by Alistair Nwachukwu, a future superstar) under her wing.
While “A Friend of Dorothy” is character-powered storytelling that tugs at your heartstrings organically, there is at least one example of manufactured feel-good-ery in the animated category with “Forevergreen,” a saccharine story of an unlikely friendship between a nurturing tree and growing grizzly bear.
This year with the Oscar shorts, it’s apparent that it’s OK to laugh again at the movies. There’s wickedly clever and relatable humor to be found in both the animated and live action categories, including the 7-minute “Retirement Plan,” directed by John Kelly, which lists off all the things we dream of doing once we’ve finally punched in at work for the last time. In live action, “Jane Austen’s Period Drama,” directed by Julia Aks and Steve Pinder, is a welcome and hilarious take on the normally bloody stiff Regency dramas.
Each year, you never know what you’ll get with the Oscar shorts. There is a guarantee, however, that the best of the best in short narrative storytelling will be on display to a packed house at the Detroit Film Theatre. It’s our yearly reminder to celebrate the power of these storytellers in their small but mighty packages.
Want to check 'em out yourself? Tickets for the Detroit Film Theatre are available here.
