2017 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary

野火

In the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier afflicted with tuberculosis is abandoned by his company and left to wander the Philippine island of Leyte.

Bağlar

An underdog basketball team under the helm of an idealist school teacher from hard scrabble Diyarbakir in Southeastern Turkey goes beyond winning games in their mission to rise above prejudice, poverty and political turmoil created by the decades long conflict between the Turkish state and Kurdish rebels who are fighting for local autonomy and cultural rights.

Testament of Youth

Testament of Youth is a powerful story of love, war and remembrance, based on the First World War memoir by Vera Brittain, which has become the classic testimony of that war from a woman’s point of view. A searing journey from youthful hopes and dreams to the edge of despair and back again, it’s a film about young love, the futility of war and how to make sense of the darkest times.

Beyrouth, Le Dialogue Des Ruines

Architecture in Beirut was the second greatest victim of the civil war, with pages of ancient and modern history erased by the end of the conflict. This documentary interviews citizens calling for a reconstruction plan that would preserve Beirut’s spirit of culture and openness.

Jungle Heat

Towards the end of the Vietnam war, the US is running low on drivers for their supplies so they bring in a new lot of recruits and have to train them to survive in the dangers of wartorn Vietnam. The recruits are trained briefly by an American officer but are quickly handed off to their South Vietnamese officers and are made to go out into the dangers of Vietnam without getting the protection they need by the Americans who are more concerned with withdrawing their own troops instead of protecting the South Vietnamese

The Lost Battalion

Fact-based war drama about an American battalion of over 500 men which gets trapped behind enemy lines in the Argonne Forest in October 1918 France during the closing weeks of World War I.

Coming Home

In 1968 California, a Marine officer's wife falls in love with a former high school classmate who suffered a paralyzing combat injury in the war.

For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots

This High Definition, PBS miniseries uses letters, diaries, speeches, journalistic accounts, historical text and military records to document and acknowledge the sacrifices and accomplishments of African-American service men and women since the earliest days of the republic.

But... Seriously

A documentary juxtaposing the events of the 20th century with the commentary of stand-up comedians.

The War Around Us

In 2008 two best friends found themselves trapped in one of the most dangerous places on earth - the only western journalists in the Gaza Strip on what was supposed to be a 24-hour assignment. The War Around Us captures the collision of veteran war correspondent and one of TIME's most 100 influential people, Ayman Mohyeldin, with rookie reporter Sherine Tadros. As missiles shower the city and unspeakable atrocities emerge, the pair is torn by fierce professional rivalry, private terror and grim humor - with no way out and the whole world watching.

Prelude to Axanar

Prelude to Axanar is a short film that will give viewers a historical look at the events leading up to the Battle of Axanar, the central event of the film Axanar. The short is a historical look at the battle of Axanar, filmed like a History Channel special. Each character will give a different view of the war with the Klingons leading up to the final confrontation that will be chronicled in Axanar, which will be released later this year. Prelude will tell viewers about the war and what it meant to each side. Figures from both sides will talk about how the war started, how the Klingons were better prepared for war, how Starfleet built their fleet, and how the war was fought from both the Federation and Klingon perspectives. You will hear from Robert April talk about building the Enterprise, Starfleet Admiral Ramirez talk about building the Starfleet, Garth of Izar telling the story of his rise to fame and Kharn, the Klingon Supreme Commander give the Klingon view of the war.

Hidden Colors 5: The Art of Black Warfare

The history of warfare as it relates to global Black society, broken down into 7 chapters that examines the ways the system of racism wages warfare from a historical, psychological, sexual, biological, health, educational, and military perspective.

Sous les bombes

In the wake of Israel's 2006 bombardment of Lebanon, a determined woman finds her way into the country convincing a taxi driver to take a risky journey around the scarred region in search of her sister and her son.

Extranjeros de sí mismos

Bajo el signo libertario

Bajo el signo libertario is a propaganda documentary, with the script and direction of Les (known for his articles in Solidaridad Obrera and the magazine Espectáculo) whose central theme is the reconstruction of the development of life in a libertarian community in the Aragonese town of Pina de Ebro.

Dupe od mramora

A transvestite couple from 1990s Belgrade beholds their profession as a pacifistic mission, curbing the urges of rapists, gamblers and horny young men during turbulent periods in war-torn country.

Nebo sateliti

When two enemy sides ex-change the captives in the middle of a minefield, a nameless man without identity and memory, subsequently named Jakov, leaves the column unnoticed and wanders around in order to minimize other people's sufferings. On his dangerous journey, he meets a female first-fighter who runs an orphanage, a commander who got back from Foreign legion and runs a defense line from a disco club, and goes through many other adventures only to end up in the endless backwaters of the Neretva river where war threats to arrive.

В бой идут одни старики

Alexey Titarenko is very talented pilot and brave leader of "Singing group". He also must look after some new cadets and fight together with them against German Luftwaffe planes. Close to Alexey always are his friends, they are all from different parts of the country, but they all became real brothers.

Aghet – Ein Völkermord

2010 documentary film on the Armenian Genocide by the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It is based on eyewitness reports by European and American personnel stationed in the Near East at the time, Armenian survivors and other contemporary witnesses which are recited by modern German actors.