Oscars Week 2018: Taika Waititi Hosts The Live Action Shorts

This year’s Oscar Week Shorts Program showcased a diverse group of talented filmmakers delivering crowd-pleasing and thoughtful short films. The evening kicked off with an extended, hilarious riff by the host Taika Waititi, director of Thor: Ragnarok and director/co-star of What We Do In the Shadows. Waititi was so annoyed by latecomers entering the Samuel Goldwyn Theater he yelled at them, “Where have you been?!” and recalled the pressure of being a short film nominee in 2004 while carrying the expectations of his native New Zealand on his shoulders.

His irreverence toward an Academy that let’s people wander around during his presentation and denies him Oscar gold kept the audience howling throughout his hosting duties.

Host Taika Waititi prior to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “Oscar Week: Shorts” event.

The animated films were all worthy of a statuette in terms of quality and originality. Kobe Bryant produced the hand-drawn film Dear Basketball and was thrilled to work with Bill Keane, one of the Disney animation directors responsible for The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Bryant said he’s a visual learner and wanted to help the next generation by telling his story with film. Garden Party told a very entertaining, dialogue-free story of a group of frogs enjoying a mysteriously empty estate with stunning, photo-realistic detail. LOU is from frequent nominee Pixar and follows an amusing creature living in the kindergarten lost and found. Negative Space is stop-motion and connects a father-son relationship to the art of packing perfectly. Finally, Revolting Rhymes, based on Roald Dahl’s poems, takes the stories of Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood and mashes them together for a clever, suspenseful tale of friendship and violence.

The live action category featured intense, thought-provoking stories of characters in emotional and physical danger plus a wonderful vaudevillian comedy. DeKalb Elementary is based on a gripping, true story of an armed gunman in an elementary school administration office. My Nephew Emmett, a film supported by Spike Lee, tells the tragic story of Emmett Till from the perspective of the uncle he lived with at the time of his murder. The Silent Child advocates for the support of deaf students with the story of a tutor helping a young girl learn and express herself. Watu Wote/All of Us explores religious tensions and compassion in a bus traveling to the Kenya-Somalia border. And the one comedy, set in a psychiatrist’s office and delivering sustained laughs during it’s 13-minute running time, The Eleven O’Clock pays homage to “Who’s on First?” with precise timing by actor/producer Josh Larson a recurring guest on the NBC comedy, Superstore.

For more information on this year’s nominees, please visit:
http://oscar.go.com/nominees/short-film-animated
http://oscar.go.com/nominees/short-film-live-action/

The 90th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.

Contributed by Gary Salem and Michelle Hannett