Awards, Documentary, Films, News, Women Directors

Oscars 2018: Best Documentary Short Semi-Finalists Announced, Over 50 Percent Are Women-Directed

“Kayayo — The Living Shopping Baskets”

Oscar nominations won’t be announced until January 23, but we’re getting a peek at what to expect next month. A “screening committee drawn from documentary branch members has winnowed a field of 77 entries down to 10 semi-finalists for the Best Documentary Short Oscar using an averaged scoring system,” Gold Derby reports. Six of those 10 films are directed by women.

Shorts in the running include Mari Bakke Riise’s “Kayayo — The Living Shopping Baskets,” a portrait of an eight-year-old girl in Ghana who works as a real-life shopping basket to support her family, and Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s “Heroin(e),” an exploration of the opioid epidemic in Huntington, West Virginia and how three women are fighting to solve the crisis.

Women-directed or co-directed films have taken home the Best Documentary Short Oscar three years in a row. This year, “The White Helmets,” co-directed by Joanna Natasegara, snagged the prize. In 2016 Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won for “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,” and in 2015 Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry’s “Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1” received the honor.

If you’re interested in learning about the shorts that may end up in the Oscar race next year, check out Sundance 2018’s shorts program, which was just announced.

The 2018 Academy Awards will take place March 4. All of the women-directed doc shorts in the running are listed below.

“Alone,” The New York Times (Directed by Garrett Bradley)

“Edith+Eddie,” Heart is Red and Kartemquin Films (Directed by Laura Checkoway)

“Heroin(e),” A Netflix Original Documentary in association with The Center for Investigative Reporting, A Requisite Media Production (Directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon)

“Kayayo — The Living Shopping Baskets,” Integral Film (Directed by Mari Bakke Riise)

“116 Cameras,” Birdling Films (Directed by Davina Pardo)

“Traffic Stop,” Q-Ball Productions (Directed by Gina Kamentsky and Julie Zammarchi)

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