Ten films, which still have a chance to win an Academy Award, were selected from among 61 films qualified for this year's competition in the Documentary Short Subject category. This is how the full shortlist in an alphabetical order looks like, together with the films' producers:
“Brillo Box (3¢ Off),” Brillo Box Documentary
“Close Ties,” Munk Studio – Polish Filmmakers Association
“Extremis,” f/8 Filmworks in association with Motto Pictures
“4.1 Miles,” University of California, Berkeley
“Frame 394,” Compy Films
“Joe’s Violin,” Lucky Two Productions
“The Mute’s House,” The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School
“The Other Side of Home,” Feeln
“Watani: My Homeland,” ITN Productions
“The White Helmets,” Grain Media and Violet Films
Five films from the above list will get the Academy Award nominations on 24 January 2017. The award ceremony, during which the winners in each category will be announced, will be held on 26 February 2017.
"Close ties" could be consider by the Academy because of winning the qualifyng award – Silver Dragon for the best documentary at 56th Krakow Film Festival.
In 2014, two Polish productions were shortlisted: "Our Curse" by Tomasz Śliwiński and "Joanna" by Aneta Kopacz. Both of these films were nominated for the Academy Award. Last year polish documentary "Starting Point" was also shortlisted.
'Close Ties': Forty five years of marriage is an impressive anniversary. Barbara and Zdzisław could be proud of themselves if not for the fact that the husband left the wife for his lover eight years ago. But now they are together again, although Barbara claims that if it were not for his infirm legs, Zdzisław would still be chasing skirts around Kraków. Despite the past resentment, everyday problems with paying bills, an occupied bathroom and rearranging furniture, they have a hard to define bond.
The fullshortlist is available on the Academy website.