The Animation, Documentary, and Live Action programs of the 2021 Oscar Nominated Short Films series are currently playing in theaters and streaming at virtual cinemas. For a complete list of exhibitors, see here.

For the average person, squeezing in as many Oscar nominees as possible before the big day can be a challenge. But in this ever so odd year where nearly all the nominees can be streamed in our living rooms, it’s never been so easy to get up to speed.

I know what you’re thinking: 15 films, six hours, oof. But as anyone who has done their best to include the short programs in their Oscar cramming will tell you, these films regularly provide some of the year’s most potent and unforgettable micro doses of enlightenment (and that’s to say nothing of how impressive it will be when you sweep these categories in your office pool).

Here are five of the best reasons I can think of to catch this year’s Oscar-nominated shorts:

Documentary

A Concerto is a Conversation
Directed by Kris Bowers and Ben Proudfoot. US, 13 minutes.
Also on Youtube.

Of all 15 short films, this one is my favorite. Originally distributed as a New York Times Op-Doc, the film depicts virtuosic composer Kris Bowers (who wrote the score for Green Book) readying a piece commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for its world premiere while also engaging in conversations with his 91-year-old grandfather, Horace Bowers Sr., who decades before fled the Jim Crow South for Los Angeles. Beautifully edited, timely, and deeply affecting (yes, I cried), sometimes the best things really do come in small packages.

A Love Song for Latasha
Directed by Sophia Nahli Allison. US, 19 minutes.
Also on Netflix.

In 1991, 15-year-old Latasha Harlins was shot and killed by a convenience store owner who thought she was stealing an orange juice. Just 13 days after the beating of Rodney King, Latasha’s murder is often cited as a critical injustice thatcontributed to the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In Sophia Nahli Allison’s unrelentingly sad but uncannily crafted documentary, three decades later, Latasha’s story is finally told by those who knew her best.

Animated

If Anything Happens I Love You
Written and directed by Michael Govier and Will McCormack. US, 12 minutes.
Also on Netflix.

Two parents wade through grief—and cling to their memories—after losing their daughter in a school shooting in this wrenching film. The 2D animation isn’t as beguiling or as innovative as some of the other nominees, but it knocks the wind out of you in a way that animated films don’t often do. In fact, I could barely breathe in the scene where two spirit-like figures follow her to school on that fateful day and do their best to keep her from walking through the doors.

Live Action

Feeling Through
Written and directed by Doug Roland. US, 19 minutes.
Also on Youtube.

This year’s live action nominees are a serious bunch, but Doug Roland’s resolutely human story provides a much-needed sliver of hope. A needy Black teen crosses paths with a deaf-blind man one night in New York City, and the interaction is one that will likely have a lasting impact on both of them. And on us too, for that matter. 

Two Distant Strangers
Directed by Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe. US, 29 minutes.
Also on Netflix.

A young, Black cartoonist (played by the exceptional Joey Bada$$) finds himself stuck in a Groundhog Day-like cycle of waking up next to a woman after a great first date and trying to make it home to his dog. But each time he leaves her apartment, no matter what he does to avoid the interaction that day, he is murdered by the same police officer. Two Distant Strangers brilliantly (if occasionally a little too predictably) encapsulates and dramatizes the fear and existential dread felt by millions of people of color in America.