Screenings of Academy Award-nominated short films return

For the 29th year, the Wichita Public Library is again hosting screenings of Academy Award-nominated live-action, animated and documentary short films.

Wichita is one of the first cities to have such a program.

“It’s such a unique event,” said Daniel Pewewardy, a librarian in the arts, music and video department at the Central Library who also organized the event. “There’s not a lot of places you can see them (the films) in their entirety. We are the only places outside of New York or Los Angeles that has had a full screening of all the shorts for as long as we have.”

The series has grown in popularity through the years and is now so popular that screenings have moved beyond the libraries to include showings at the Orpheum and Warren theaters.

Pewewardy says short films are a unique art form unto themselves, and Wichita audiences appreciate that.

“The academy requires shorts to be no longer than 40 minutes,” he said. “So the type of story you can tell differs from a traditional feature-length film. You don’t have as much time to develop characters and plot, and short films often have to become more creative in how they tell a story successfully.”

Here are the nominated films:

“Me and My Moulton” (14 minutes, Canada) – Three sisters growing up in an unconventional Norwegian family ask their parents for a bicycle.

“Feast” (6 minutes, U.S.) – The story of the relationship between a young man and a stray puppy he takes in is told through the food the dog eats.

“The Bigger Picture” (7 minutes, United Kingdom) – Tensions arise between two brothers as their elderly mother requires more care.

“A Single Life” (2 minutes, Netherlands) – A mysterious vinyl single gives a young woman the power to move back and forth in time.

“The Dam Keeper” (18 minutes, U.S.) – A lonely little pig in charge of maintaining the town dam is cruelly bullied by his classmates.

“Parvaneh” (25 minutes, Switzerland) – An Afghan teenager living in a refugee center in Switzerland asks a young Swiss woman to help her wire money to her family.

“Boogaloo and Graham” (14 minutes, U.K.) – Two boys are presented with two baby chicks to raise.

“Aya” (39 minutes, Israel/France) – A young woman waiting at an airport has an unexpected encounter with an arriving passenger.

“The Phone Call” (21 minutes, U.K.) – A woman working for a crisis center phone line receives a call from a suicidal older man.

“Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak)” (15 minutes, France/China) – A photographer and his assistant photograph the inhabitants of a remote Tibetan village.

“Joanna” (40 minutes, Poland) – As she faces a terminal illness, the mother of a young son writes a blog to leave a record of what she hopes to teach him.

“Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1” (39 minutes, U.S.) – Study of a Veterans Crisis Line that receives over 22,000 calls from military veterans each year.

“Our Curse” (27 minutes, Poland) – A mother and father face the difficulties of caring for a baby born with a life-threatening congenital breathing disorder.

“White Earth” (20 minutes, U.S.) – Three children and an immigrant mother face a long and difficult winter in North Dakota.

“The Reaper (La Parka)” (29 minutes, Mexico) – Portrait of a man who has worked in a slaughterhouse for 25 years.

This story was originally published February 13, 2015 at 7:27 AM with the headline "Screenings of Academy Award-nominated short films return."