‘Barbie,’ ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ and ‘Society of the Snow’ Top Oscar Short Lists

news7g12/22/2023

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‘Barbie,’ ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ and ‘Society of the Snow’ Top Oscar Short Lists

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its short lists for 10 categories on Thursday, giving us a clearer picture of how some of these tight races might shape up.

As they do every year ahead of nominations voting, the Academy announced short lists for documentary and international features, as well as documentary short subject, makeup and hairstyling, original score, original song, animated short, live-action short, visual effects, and sound. There are always a few surprises and snubs, and this year was no exception.

Barbie had the most mentions of any film, with five overall. It did surprisingly miss in the makeup and hairstyling category. The category included expected favorites like Maestro, Poor Things, and Killers of the Flower Moon, along with the more unexpected inclusion of Beau Is Afraid and horror film The Last Voyage of the Demeter.

Original song remains a highly competitive category with several films getting multiple songs in. Barbie, as expected, has three songs in the running, while The Color Purple and Flora and Son landed two each. Songs from Wonka and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, however, were left off the short list despite strong reviews for its songs.

The biggest surprise of the lists might be Society of the Snow, Spain’s submission for the international-feature Oscar, which also landed on the short lists for makeup and hairstyling, original score, and visual effects. The film, a survival thriller about a rugby team whose plane crashes on a glacier in the Andes, closed the Venice Film Festival and will be released by Netflix in January. Killers of the Flower Moon also fared well by landing on four lists.

The international-feature-film list didn’t have any glaring omissions like it has in years’ past. Strong front-runners that made the list include France’s The Taste of Things, Germany’s The Teachers’ Lounge, and the UK’s Zone of Interest.

Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, which has been in the conversation to possibly land other nominations outside of the international-feature race, fared well overall by making the lists for sound and original score.

The short lists are the final step before nominations voting begins January 11, with nominations to be announced on January 23.

See below for the full list:

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM

American Symphony

Apolonia, Apolonia

Beyond Utopia

Bobi Wine: The People’s President

Desperate Souls, Dark City, and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy

The Eternal Memory

Four Daughters

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project

In the Rearview