Oscar Shorts 2026: DOCUMENTARIES

Now an annual film festival tradition, Sedona audiences will be able to see all of the short films nominated for Academy Awards before the Oscar telecast on March 15. A perennial hit with audiences around the country (and the world), don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts. All of the Documentary Short Film nominees will be featured in this program.

The Oscar-nominated Documentary Shorts Program will include:

• All the Empty Rooms (USA): This film follows correspondent Steve Hartmand and photographer Lou Bopp as they embark on a seven-year-long project to document the empty bedrooms of children killed in school shootings.

• Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (USA): An intimate chronicle about documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud, the first American journalist killed while reporting on the Russo-Ukrainian War.

• Children No More: “Were and are Gone” (USA/Israel/U.K.): Israeli peace activists hold silent vigils in Tel Aviv, displaying photos of Gaza’s young victims. Despite facing public backlash, their wordless demonstrations powerfully highlight war’s human cost.

• The Devil is Busy (USA): At an Atlanta abortion clinic besieged by protesters, the director of operations takes necessary risks to safeguard staff and patients.

• Perfectly a Strangeness (Canada/Chile): In the dazzling incandescence of an unknown desert, three donkeys discover an abandoned astronomical observatory and the universe. A sensorial, cinematic exploration of what a story can be.

The Oscar Documentary Shorts Program will show: Friday and Sunday, March 6 and 8 at 7:00 p.m.; Tuesday, March 10 at 4:00 p.m.; Wednesday, March 11 at 3:00 p.m.; and Thursday, March 12 at 3:30 p.m.

Tickets are $12, or $9 for Film Festival members. For tickets and more information, please call 928-282-1177. Both the theatre and film festival office are located at 2030 W. Hwy. 89A, in West Sedona.