Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film facts for kids

The Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film is a special prize given out every year at the Academy Awards ceremony. This award celebrates the best short movies that feature real actors, not animated characters.

What is a Live Action Short Film?

A "live action" film means it uses real people and real settings, just like most movies you see. A "short film" is a movie that is not very long. For this Oscar award, a short film must be 40 minutes or less, including all the credits at the end.

How the Award Started

This award has been given out since 1957, but it had different names before that. From 1936 to 1956, there were two separate awards for short films:

• Best Short Subject, One-reel: These films were about 11 minutes long. A "reel" is a roll of film, and one reel of 35 mm film is about 1,000 feet long.
• Best Short Subject, Two-reel: These films were about 22 minutes long, using two reels of film.

For just two years, 1936 and 1937, there was also a special category for "Best Short Subject, Color." Even earlier, from 1932 to 1935, the awards were for "Best Short Subject, Comedy" and "Best Short Subject, Novelty."

In 1957, all these different short film awards were combined into one. It was first called "Short Subjects, Live Action Subjects," then "Short Subjects, Live Action Films." The name we use today, "Academy Award for Live Action Short Film," started in 1974.

Who Wins the Award?

The Academy Awards rules say that the award goes to the person who is most responsible for the idea and making of the film. If more than one person was very important in creating the film, a second Oscar statue can be given out.

Before the final nominees are announced, a group of fifteen short films are chosen as a "shortlist." This means they are the top contenders for the award.

Notable Winners and Records

Over the years, many talented filmmakers have won this award. Some people have won it multiple times or been nominated many times.

• Most Awards: Walt Disney has won this award 6 times! He was nominated 13 times in total.
• Most Nominations: Gordon Hollingshead holds the record for the most nominations, with 20 nominations. He won 5 awards from those nominations.

See also

• Short film
• BAFTA Award for Best Short Film
• Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
• List of Academy Award–nominated films