This is the third of our series covering the Oscar® 2026 race. Each week before the shortlist voting commences on December 8th we preview a short film category and its eligible films. Previously, we covered Animated Shorts and Documentary Shorts.At last, Live Action. The category has been a punching bag for me in recent years, as it has been the site of some of the Academy’s most head-scratching decisions. If I’m being grumpy, I peruse this enormous 207-film longlist and see numerous examples of cliché premises from relatively unheralded sources. In my mind, the field is probably three times as big as it should be.I don’t have inside knowledge of how things have changed in recent years. But, it seems that the ever-expanding lineup of qualifying festivals has produced a contender pool that is extremely culturally and geographically diverse (which rocks), but also lets a lot of marginal work through. It’s also become very affordable to qualify via exhibition, with several theater chains advertising packages that satisfy the Academy’s requirements for as little as $500. You don’t want to close this avenue because, by my reckoning, 3 of the last 5 winners qualified in this manner, but something’s got to give—my guess is that close to half the films here are thanks to pay-for-play theatrical engagements, and I would expect that to continue to grow.Why should we care? Well, absent the institutional influence that Documentary and Animation possess as distinct communities, this sort of over-stuffed free-for-all benefits deep-pocketed campaigns, helping fuel the awards-industrial-complex. I think this is a tragic development for an uncommercial format like shorts, and it also just muddies the waters, allowing some of those head-scratchers to slip through. The Oscars probably shouldn’t just be an expensive festival submission, and busy Academy members probably shouldn’t be serving as glorified pre-screeners.This is an exciting and optimistic time, though, so I am sheepish about beginning this preview with complaints—we do have the choice, we can choose to just not be grumpy! Overstuffed as it is, there are many great shorts here. While our team has only seen about half of these 207 entrants, it’s quite easy to recommend 15 unimpeachably awesome films. We could probably select another 15 on top of that without much effort, creating an official shortlist we’d be extremely proud of, twice over.We’ll try to guide you to many of these gems. As with our last two category previews, because we have not seen all these films, this is not an official endorsement of what should proceed to the next round; instead this preview post is structured as a series of topics that help illuminate the lay of the land—films and projects we love, but also others we haven’t seen or would not otherwise recommend. Let’s dive in. Click to visit the collection. Use Shortverse filters to isolate films by country or technique, online status, and more. Meet The Online FilmsRespecting our founding mission, let’s begin by introducing films you can watch right now! This list will continue to grow, but as of publishing, 20 films are available for streaming. Of these, six are Short of the Week Official Selections:Beyond Failure – I genuinely adore this unapologetically indie short about the importance of building a nice ass. It’s so relentless with its deadpan humor, and yet so insightful into modern forms of youthful aimlessness and anxiety.Border Hopper – This Sundance hit is about the byzantine US immigration system, but is also one of the freshest and coolest approaches we’ve seen to a serious subject, with great formal and narrative invention.Daly City – An Indonesian boy and his mother bring Chinese takeout to a church potluck and pretend it’s a traditional family dish. A sensitive film that pauses to ask the question: what shapes our sense of belonging, and what do we give up on the way to finding it?Deux personnes échangeant de la salive (Two People Exchanging Saliva) – A big swing that produces a home run of a short, this 30min B&W film draws on examples of real-life authoritarianism to construct an absurdist dystopia where intimacy is outlawed.Single Residence Occupancy – A deeply moving family drama, we love this one from Omer Ben-Shachar, and with a new short of the circuit that we love too, he is a talent to watch out for.SUSANA – An open-hearted film about an older woman who, by happenstance, finds herself traveling alone in Mexico, this is a travel film that makes you think and makes you feel. Still from One Day This KidFestival DarlingsA spotlight on films we really like that have had stellar runs on the fest circuit.Amarela – Céline is a really tough critic, but gave this Brazilian short a rare perfect score, lauding its “breathtaking ending.”I’m Glad You’re Dead Now – The reigning Short Palme winner at Cannes, Tawfeek Barhom’s Middle East drama is buoyed by exceptionally strong performances.One Day This Kid – Alexander Farah has featured on S/W a remarkable 7 times, sometimes as an editor, but increasingly as a writer/director. This film, the Narrative Short winner at SXSW, shows that his filmmaking just gets better and better with every short.Vox Humana – Winner of at least three qualifying awards, Rob called the filmmaking talent on display here “insane”. Filipino short filmmaking is in the midst of a golden era, and it would be great to see The Academy ratify that. A Second Time AroundShort film, especially in the live-action category, is something most filmmakers move on from as their careers progress. It’s unusual to see filmmakers earn repeat nominations, but these three notable talents are looking to go through the gauntlet again and earn a return ticket to the ceremony in March.O – The Icelandic director, Rúnar Rúnarsson, was nominated in 2005 for The Last Farm. Since then, he’s carved out a solid place in global cinema with four well-regarded features. This short was shot alongside that latest feature.The Singers – Sam Davis shot and edited an Oscar-winner with Period. End of Sentence. Now he wants a statuette as a director. We don’t knock his chances either; this is one of our favorites of the year.Trapped – The Cutler-Kreutz brothers don’t have to squint hard to remember their time in the Oscar limelight; they were at the event earlier this year for A Lien! This is another good one from the prolific filmmaking duo. Still from The Most Perfect Perfect PersonGenre Films in the SpotlightGenre filmmaking is one of the film industry’s current pillars, and the death of the mid-budget adult feature in theaters makes it weird that so many awards-aspiring shorts are quite heavy dramas. Last year’s winner, I’m Not a Robot, deviated from that formula, so is that a sign that a proper genre short could break through? Here are some contenders.Chew – The critic’s award winner at Sitges, this is on my list of most anticipated shorts to check out.Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting – Solid buzz out of Sundance for this moody mother/daughter drama that happens to have impressively realized mythological creatures in it.Neo Dome – Another award-winner out of SXSW, this is an unapologetically pulpy dystopian neo-western.Stomach Bug – A twisted body horror with real heart, what’s not to love about that?The Most Perfect Perfect Person – Really curious about this one. It’s from 5-time alum, Paul Trillo and the pop star, Poppy. Trillo is at the forefront of AI-generated creation these days and is a partner at Asteria. I assume this film uses their tech and will incorporate AI into both the short’s premise and its execution. Star PowerIt’s amusing that the big trend of the past few years in awards campaigns has been to bring on celebs as “executive producers” when actual celeb-driven projects have had a poor track record of late. If the star power of a Kendrick Lamar or Taylor Swift couldn’t get them on the shortlist, I doubt these films can manage it, but here are projects from familiar names.Idris Elba – Known for his film and TV roles, Dust to Dreams premiered at TIFF this year, but was not well-received.Letitia Wright – The Black Panther star’s directing debut, Highway to the Moon, is online from WePresent, who won this category a few years back with The Long Goodbye. We’re not bullish on their chances this time around, though.Milana Vayntrub – She is one of America’s most famous pitch-women via her famous AT&T commercials, but Vayntrub has been a great friend to shorts over the years, acting in many excellent ones. She tries her hand at directing this time with the strip club comedy, Bootie’s.Charlie Kaufman – The much-admired screenwriter of Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and director of Synecdoche New York, is in contention with a short that premiered out of competition at Venice.Michael Keaton – Sweetwater is directed by Keaton’s son, but stars the Oscar-winning actor in the lead role. It’s also the first film to come out of a special Google AI content program and will have the ample backing of the tech giant. Still from Rock Paper ScissorsBased on a True StoryA few of the highest-profile films draw from real life. This has not traditionally been an Oscar-bait strategy in short film, but that could change!Extremist – The latest New Yorker feature, Ben Stiller recently jumped aboard this film about domestic dissent in Russia, inspired by Sasha Skochilenko.Flight 182 – I don’t know too much about this one, about the “largest act of aviation terrorism in the world before 9/11”, but I did note that Academy President, Janet Yang, is an executive producer on the project.Jeffrey Epstein: Bad Pedophile – Jeffrey Epstein was, unfortunately, a real-life figure, and a new film from the beloved satire site The Onion is sure to have fans in the Academy.Rock Paper Scissors – The reigning BAFTA-winner, this student short from the UK’s NFTS is a tense Ukrainian-set war thriller. ***Thanks for following our lengthy previews of the three categories. Good luck to all the qualified films as voting begins!