Countdown to Oscar Night (abbreviated) Part 2: Shorts, Docs, & Cartoons

 Best Animated Feature Film

Onward

Over the Moon

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

Soul

Wolfwalkers

This one is pretty easy. Soul has it wrapped up and it isn't really close. I saw all of these except for Farmageddon. I wish Aardman would make new stuff like Chicken Run rather than more of the sheep stuff.

My Ballot

Soul

Onward

Wolfwalkers

Over the Moon 

My Pick to Win
Soul

Shamefully Snubbed
I am ashamed to say the only other animated movie I saw from 2020 was The Croods sequel, and that isn't worth a snub mention.

Best Documentary Feature

Collective

Crip Camp

The Mole Agent

My Octopus Teacher

Time

I only saw three of these, and, luckily, they are the three that I believe have a chance. Crip Camp is the most conventional and tells the untold story of the origins of the Americans with Disabilities Act. My Octopus Teacher is easily the prettiest and highlights the friendship between a depressed photojournalist and an octopus that he dives with daily (seriously). My favorite though was Time. It is the most stylistic mixing new footage with VHS recordings and weaving timelines together as the viewer journeys along with a broken family fighting to be reunited. 

This one will be close, but I think the voters will lean towards the fluff (Octopus) rather than the historic (Crip Camp) or the challenging (Time).

My Ballot

Time

Crip Camp

My Octopus Teacher 

My Pick to Win
My Octopus Teacher

Shamefully Snubbed

Becoming

Best Documentary Short

Colette

A Concerto is a Conversation

Do Not Split

Hunger Ward

A Love Song for Latasha

This is a very interesting mix of shorts. Other than Hunger Ward and Collette (which both felt pretty exploitative in quite different ways), I would urge folks to seek out these films and educate themselves about some of the horror and beauty of the real world.

My Ballot

A Concerto is a Conversation

A Love Song for Latasha

Do Not Split

Colette

Hunger Ward

My Pick to Win
A Love Song for Latasha

Shamefully Snubbed

The Speed Cubers

Best Animated Short

Burrow

Genius Loci

If Anything Happens I Love You

Opera

Yes-People

In what is usually a pretty strange category, this may be the strangest bunch I've ever seen. My favorite is the one with no dialogue that uses a single image to tell the story of all of human history.

My Ballot

Opera

If Anything Happens I Love You

Burrow

Genius Loci

Yes-People

My Pick to Win
Burrow

Best Live ActionShort

Feeling Through

The Letter Room

The Present

Two Distant Strangers

White Eye

Let's be honest. You haven't seen these. I have seen all but The Present because the copy I found didn't have subtitles. You can probably skip all of these.

My Ballot

Two Distant Strangers

The Letter Room

White Eye

Feeling Through

My Pick to Win
The Letter Room