The Academy Shortlists Have Arrived
Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 6:11PM 
As most of you reading probably know, there are nine Oscar categories that go through rounds of voting rather than just one ballot for the nominations. So each year the Academy narrows the field in these nine categories a few weeks to a month before the final nominations. Anything not listed below is no longer possible as a nominee in that specific category, since the ballots will only include these choices. (Curiously they don't do this winnowing process with one of the specialized categories, Best Animated Feature, so all 27 eligible films in that category are still possible as nominees.) The Academy will vote on the actual nominations between March 5th and March 10th and the Oscar nominatitons will be announced on March 15th, 2021. Then we'll have an unusually long wait for Oscar night on April 25th, 2021.
Here are the shortlists...
Best International Feature Film - OSCAR CHART UPDATED
93 were eligible but now the list is just 15 long *cries in love for international cinema*
Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Quo Vadis, Aida?” Reviewed
Chile, “The Mole Agent” Reviewed
Czech Republic, “Charlatan” Reviewed
Denmark, “Another Round”
France, “Two of Us” Reviewed
Guatemala, “La Llorona” Reviewed
Hong Kong, “Better Days” Reviewed
Iran, “Sun Children” Reviewed
Ivory Coast, “Night of the Kings” Reviewed
Mexico, “I’m No Longer Here” Reviewed
Norway, “Hope”
Romania, “Collective” Reviewed
Russia, “Dear Comrades!” Reviewed
Taiwan, “A Sun” Reviewed
Tunisia, “The Man Who Sold His Skin”
We did pretty well on our predictions getting 11 of the 15 finalists correct. The ones we had too much confidence in were Poland's "Never Gonna Show Again" (maybe because I love it), Lesotho's "This is Not a Burial..." (which we hadn't seen but which those who had were just wild about), Spain's "The Endless Trench" and Israel's "Asia". (The ones we didn't predict above were Norway's "Hope," Taiwan's "A Sun," Frances "Two of Us," and Hong Kong's "Better Days")
Best Makeup and Hairstyling - OSCAR CHARTS UPDATED
“Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn”
“Emma”
“The Glorias”
“Hillbilly Elegy”
“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey”
“The Little Things”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Mank”
“One Night in Miami…”
“Pinocchio”
Ridiculous that Mulan didn't advance (sigh) and frustrating that Promising Young Woman didn't (though we didn't expect it to). Other notable exclusions: Personal History of David Copperfield and United States vs Holliday's period fun or recreations. And what on earth is The Little Things doing here? For Jared Leto's greasy hair? We can't think of any other makeup and hair work in the film since the Academy's makeup branch has never cared about corpses or dead body makeup before.
Best Visual Effects - OSCAR CHARTS UPDATED
“Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn”
“Bloodshot”
“Love and Monsters”
“Mank”
“The Midnight Sky”
“Mulan”
“The One and Only Ivan”
“Soul”
“Tenet”
“Welcome to Chechnya”
No Invisible Man, huh? We'd been predicting it all year. Whoops. Sonic the Hedgehog, Jingle Jangle, and Wonder Woman 1984 are also absent. Unusual to see a documentary, Welcome to Chechnya, place so that's exciting. It also made the doc finals.
Best Original Score - OSCAR CHART UPDATED
“Ammonite”
“Blizzard of Souls”
“Da 5 Bloods”
“The Invisible Man”
“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey”
“The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)”
“The Little Things”
“Mank”
“The Midnight Sky”
“Minari”
“Mulan”
“News of the World”
“Soul”
“Tenet”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Some mildly surprising omissions: Thomas Newman and Hans Zimmer (both of whom they usually love) for Let Them All Talk and Hillbilly Elegy respectively. Nice to see Ammonite and Invisible Man here and a relief to see Minari. Blizzard of Souls, an Oscar submission in international feature that didn't advance in its own category, is a big surprise!
Best Original Song - OSCAR CHART UPDATED
100 plus songs were eligible but it's now down to these 15 titles.
“Turntables” from "All In: The Fight for Democracy”
“See What You’ve Done” from “Belly of the Beast”
“Wuhan Flu” from “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
“Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”
“Never Break” from “Giving Voice”
“Make It Work” from “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey”
“Fight For You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah”
“lo Sì (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)”
“Rain Song” from “Minari”
“Show Me Your Soul” from “Mr. Soul!”
“Loyal Brave True” from “Mulan”
“Free” from “The One and Only Ivan”
“Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami…”
“Green” from “Sound of Metal”
“Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Tough break for Over the Moon, an original musical. They only submitted one song "Rocket to the Moon" but it didn't make the list. The big
Best Animated Short - OSCAR CHART UPDATED
96 were eligible - the most ever - with the following 10 advancing
“Burrow”
“Genius Loci”
“If Anything Happens I Love You”
“Kapaemahu”
“Opera”
“Out”
“The Snail and the Whale”
“To Gerard”
“Traces”
“Yes-People”
Some notable misses here include Coin and World of Tomorrow 3 (both from previous nominees), the BAFTA winner Grandad was a Romantic, and the Student Academy Award winning Ciervo. In something of a surprise there are two queer films on the list: Out and Kapaemahu which is about Waikiki and transgender spirits.
Best Live-Action Short - OSCAR CHART UPDATED
174 films qualified for this prize but now it's down to these ten.
“Bittu”
“Da Yie”
“Feeling Through”
“The Human Voice”
“The Kicksled Choir”
“The Letter Room”
“The Present”
“Two Distant Strangers”
“The Van”
“White Eye”
Thrilled to see Pedro Almodóvar's short The Human Voice in the lineup as it's one of the best films of the year. Eager to discover the other shorts as always (but a bit sad that 1,2,3 All Eyes on Me didn't make it).
Best Documentary Feature - OSCAR CHART UPDATED
238 titles were eligible but it's now down to these 15 options
“All In: The Fight for Democracy”
“Boys State”
“Collective”
“Crip Camp”
“Dick Johnson Is Dead”
“Gunda”
“MLK/FBI”
“The Mole Agent”
“My Octopus Teacher”
“Notturno”
“The Painter and the Thief”
“76 Days”
“Time”
“The Truffle Hunters”
“Welcome to Chechnya”
Both Glenn and I predicted only 9 of these correctly but we both had very different lists, haha. It was a good year for docs with a lot of beloved titles. Some buzzy titlese that missed advancing on were probably City Hall, A Thousand Cuts, The Earth is as Blue as an Orange, and The Mayor.
Best Documentary Short - OSCAR CHART UPDATED
114 films were eligible in Doc Short but it's been narrowed to 10.
“Abortion Helpline, This Is Lisa”
“Call Center Blues”
“Colette”
“A Concerto Is a Conversation”
“Do Not Split”
“Hunger Ward”
“Hysterical Girl”
“A Love Song for Latasha”
“The Speed Cubers”
“What Would Sophia Loren Do?”
CONGRATS TO ALL THE SHORTLISTERS
Reader Comments (36)
I'm bummed "Queen Bee" from Emma was snubbed. Now I'm rooting for "Husavik." If "Wuhan Flu" is nominated will they perform it?
They also released the international list. It looks like the big omission is "Never Gonna Snow Again."
Over the Moon was robbed, indeed. Rocket to the Moon is certainly one of the best original songs of the year. Ridiculous.
How do they determine visual effects in a film like Soul? What is just animation and what is visual effects? Is the whole film one long visual effect?
It’s nice to see foreign films and documentaries pop up in other categories as well. Some of the choices are quite original, but we’ll probably just see the same movies nominated in every category like the last couple of years.
I can’t get over that Rocket to the Moon didn’t make it to the Top 15(!!!) original songs in stead of crap like the Mulan song. Guess the most famous performers and composers get an easier pass. It’s not like Over the Moon is Cats and got snubbed for being from a disaterous movie like Beautiful Ghosts last year.
Out is In.
Wtf is Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey???
Justice for YOU DON’T NOMI
Shame on you Academy!!!
The International Feature Film category is fantastic - finally !!!
Four of my favourite foreign films so far this year made it in:
Denmark - Another Round
Hong Kong - Better Days
Taiwan - A Sun
Mexico - I'm No Longer Here
And super excited to watch:
Bosnia - Quo Vadis, Aida
France - Two Of Us
Iran - Sun Children
Ivory Coast - Night of the Kings
Norway - Hope
Russia - Dear Comrades
Tunisia - The Man Who Sold His Skin
I don't see any big omissions this year. Maybe Notturno (Italy)? I'm disapponted that You Will Die at Twenty (Sudan), The Endless Trench (Spain), and Charter (Sweden) missed out.
Pedro Almodóvar is coming for that second, well-deserved Oscar and I am living.
I saw "Two Distant Strangers" and was awestrunk. 30 minutes of powerful allegory.
The Sophia Loren short doc listed! I guess this will secure her a nomination for best actress in March.
I’m happy for Husavik and My Octopus Teacher!!!
No INVISIBLE MAN in visual effects shortlist is absolutely ridiculous. But absolutely rapt for WELCOME TO CHECHNYA, which deserves a nomination but will be hard pressed to get it.
That doc list sort of feels like it lacks personality but what can you do, hey?
Delighted to see Welcome To Chechnya’s innovative and, in context, hugely moving visual effects recognised.
Rooting for Quo Vadis Aida, which in a different world would also be in with a shot for its gripping central performance and precise, empathic editing.
The fact that the Academy obviously liked The Little Things, and with the performance already having high-profile support, I'm very concerned that Jared Leto could realistically make it.
Nice to see, that all my 5 favourite foreign film made it to TOP15.... hopefully they will also become the nominees: 1. Tunisia, 2. Taiwan, 3. Denmark, 4. Russia and 5. Iran. (I predicted 11 out of 15 right in a comment here a couple of days ago). Weird, that for the first time ever I've seen the whole shortlist before the actual nominees are being announced.
And I did even better with documentaries, predicting 12 out of 15 right... Although my favourite of them all - The Dissident didn't make it... But I'm especially thankful that The painter and the thief, Welcome to Chechnya, Boys state and Dick Johnson is dead are on the list... because these round up my personal TOP5.
Overall have seen most of the ones that got on shortlists, except for the live action shorts... the only one I've seen on that list is the excellent Two distant strangers. Cool to dig into the rest of these now :)
Movies from Denmark and Ivory Coast are HORRIBLE. And where are Portugal, Spain, Ukraine??? But I'm glad that they shortlisted Bosnia, Mexico, Russia, Czech Republic and Norway. Romania, Taiwan and Iran are also pretty good. France and Guatemala are OK. Chile - pretty mediocre but acceptable. Haven't seen Hong Kong and Tunisia yet.
"The Life Ahead" for Score. "What would Sophia Loren Do ?" for Documentary Short.
Sophia Loren is getting nominated for Best Actress.
Hoping The Little Things only made it on the score shortlist because they like Thomas Newman, because lord help us if this is another omen for Leto receiving a nomination.
World of Tomorrow 3 :(
And they say bad things about blockbusters and superhero movies.
Look at this visual effects list, sponsored by Covid.
Half of those movies shouldn't have any business in here.
Midnight Sky, Mulan, Bloodshot, Birds of Prey, they are not exactly beloved.
The World of Tomorrow 3 snub is just horrendous - it's a masterpiece!
That WHAT WOULD SOPHIA LOREN DO made the doc short list, but not JOHN WAS TRYING TO CONTACT ALIENS doesn't set a good example for Netflix. "Originals? No. Oscar campaigns? Yes!"
Little Things is here for Leto's fake nose which is actually pretty impressive.
I thought Invisible Man was the frontrunner!
^ No Way!
VFX misses: Sonic is the biggest shame of those three, and either Soul (the ONLY animated movies that SHOULD be eligible for VFX are Stop Motion Animated Movies) or The One and Only Ivan (they're not...bad...as photo real talking animals go, but maybe the VFX branch should have a bit more taste and realize that even "good" photo real talking animal movies are, STILL...abominations?) should have stepped off the long list for Sonic?
Volvagia -- Animated movies like SOUL still have an effects department that's separated from the main animation and environment creation. It's still VFX, even if it's included in a film that entirely computer-generated.
I am sad that "Poverty Porn" from the The 40 Year Old Version and "Boss Bitch" from Birds of Prey are not on the shortlist.
Four generic "resistant/up with people" songs Speak Now vs Hear My Voice and Fight for You vs Turntables. Will they knock each other out?
I hope "Green"or "Rain Song" makes it; though "Wuhan Flu" is probably the song that actually takes place in the film, moves the plot and actually says something(horrible) about 2020.
Thrilled for that Blizzard of Souls score... it's really lovely. I've been listening to one of the main choral pieces of a while now. (It has no chance at an actual nomination, of course.)
Thrilled for Welcome to Chechnya too. Some of the most important VFX work of the year.
The biggest winner of the day may be Quo Vadis, Aida? It didn't have a ton of press, but now anyone who votes from here on out will have to certify that they've seen it and it's pretty undeniable. I am inclined to say it nips Another Round for the Oscar in the end.
Now that Quo Vadis, Aida? has made the shortlist, I’m praying that it can win the Oscar over Another Round.
The Invisible Man snub kind of makes sense. They basically just put a dude in a green screen suit and then erased him in post. It works in the movie but it's not an overly innovative or difficult effect and I can see why VFX artists wouldn't have been particularly impressed by it.
Give the cripples a fucking Oscar. Do that challenge Academy.
Another Round is feeling more and more likely to snatch the golden boy
Naah, it's neither the important & excellent "Quo vadis, Aida?" nor the adult hymn for alcohol "Another round", that should win - it''s "The man who sold his skin" with all it's fun twists and turns! :)
"How do they determine visual effects in a film like Soul?"// I believe there's some VFX work done in the scenes with the Jerry's and the Great Beyond that's outside the realm of just regular plain old computer animation.
Let Them All Talk was not elegible for best score.
Does anyone know when the Academy are dropping the reminder list. One of my favourite days of the year is looking up trailers for dreadful films no-one has heard of.
Like others have pointed out, reallllly concerned about The Little Things making the shortlist in categories they have no business being in. Not only does Leto feel safe now, will it surprise elsewhere? *shudder*