For our fourth Rundown article, we look at Best Live Action Short Film. After the jump, you’ll find our winner and runner-up predictions for Best Live Action Short Film as well as general commentary about the race. Wednesday, we’ll cover Best Documentary Feature.

Best Live Action Short Film

Winner Predictions

• Feeling Through (WL O) (PP O)
• The Letter Room (TB O)
• The Present
• Two Distant Strangers (TL O)
• White Eye

Runner-Up Predictions

• The Letter Room (TL O)
• The Present (TB R) [New]
• Two Distant Strangers (WL O)
• White Eye (PP O)

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Wesley Lovell: This is a tough category that I need to see the nominees of before making a decision, but I’m sticking with my original winner prediction, Feeling Through because of its subject matter. This opinion may change once I view the nominees in full.
Peter J. Patrick: Not having seen any of the nominees, I really have no idea but I’m guessing Feeling Through will win with White Eye a possible upset winner.
Tripp Burton: I haven’t gotten a chance to see any of these yet, so I will hopefully have a better idea closer to the awards for this, but on the surface, I am going for the star-studded The Letter Room or the Netflix-backed The Present to come out on top here.
Thomas La Tourrette: Two Distant Strangers was the film that most captured my attention. A mix of Black Lives Matter material and Groundhog Day, or, more accurately, Happy Death Day, it is an emotional movie about a young Black man trying to get home to his dog and getting killed by the same policeman every day. An ambiguous ending dampens the effect of the movie somewhat, but it should win the Oscar for the emotion that it creates. Its stiffest competition comes from The Letter Room which stars Oscar Isaac as a prison guard who ends up checking the mail coming to the prisoners, and how it affects him. It was good, but for me lacked the emotional heft of Strangers. The Present takes on the raw feelings of Palestinians and Jewish guards at a border crossing. It is effective, but not as much as the first two films. Feeling Through shows the connection that forms between a homeless Black teen and a blind and deaf man he grudgingly ends up helping. Again a decent film, but I like Two Distant Strangers better. I have yet to see White Eye, but I will still hope that Two Distant Strangers will win the Oscar.

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