A Detroit Film Theatre annual high point, the Oscar shorts celebration, is going virtual

Detroit Free Press

"A Love Song for Latasha" is one of the short films nominated in the documentary short category at the 2021 Oscars.

A highlight of Detroit's movie calendar kicks off next week. Only this time, it will be a virtual extravaganza.

As usual, the Detroit Film Theatre will be showing the short film nominees for the 2021 Academy Awards. The annual live screenings of the Oscar shorts are so popular they usually sell out quickly.

This year, however, with the DFT still preparing to reopen after a year-long pandemic shutdown, the Oscar shorts in three categories — animated shorts, live action shorts and documentary shorts — will be available for screening online.

Starting April 2, tickets will be available for $12 per category or $30 to see all three categories. If you purchase a ticket, you’ll be able to watch the short film nominees anytime from April 2 through April 25, the day of the Oscar ceremony.

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Don’t tell feature-length filmmakers, but the Oscar shorts are often the most meaningful, memorable movies that you’ll see all year. Among the 2021 standouts is “The Hunger Ward,” a documentary short filmed inside therapeutic feeding centers that are part of the fight to save children in war-torn Yemen from starvation.

Another documentary short earning acclaim is “A Love Song for Latasha. It is described as a dreamlike portrait of Latasha Harlins, 15, whose shooting death in a south-central neighborhood of Los Angeles was among the sparks for that city’s unrest in 1992.

A scene from "Two Distant Strangers," which is nominated for best live action short.

In the live action shorts category, buzz is building around “Two Distant Strangers,” which takes a “Groundhog Day" approach to its depiction of a young Black cartoonist (played by rapper Joey Badass) who keeps reliving and trying to change the day he gets shot by a white police officer.

An important chunk of the money from ticket purchases will go toward maintaining and supporting the Detroit Film Theatre. For more on the virtual screenings or to pre-order tickets, go to https://watch.eventive.org/ons21-detroitinstituteofarts.

Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.