2026 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Documentary

These short documentaries explore violence, war, living with grief — and donkeys discovering the universe.

• All the Empty Rooms (US): Follows an effort to document the rooms of children lost to school shootings.
• Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (US): Brent Renaud was the first American journalist killed while covering the war in Ukraine. In this intimate film, his brother completes Brent’s final report.
• Children No More: Were and Are Gone (Israel): In Tel Aviv, activists hold silent protests, mourning the children killed in Gaza.
• The Devil Is Busy (US): The director of an Atlanta abortion clinic targeted by protesters does everything in her power to keep her staff and patients safe.
• Perfectly a Strangeness (Canada): While traveling in an unknown desert, the four-legged characters in this delightfully enigmatic film come upon a place that may expand their (and our) understanding of the cosmos.

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