I am very excited for Sunday, February 24. This is Oscars night – the Academy Awards ceremony. It is silliness, you say, and you are right: it is. But it's exciting. It's fun – especially since four years ago when I implemented the Academy Awards Drinking Game in my household. The rules are simple: each category is given a point value, and each point value corresponds to a drinking amount. (For example, the technical categories are worth 1 point, a drink of beer; screenplays, supporting actors, short films, etc. are 3 points, half a shot; lead actors, director, etc. are 5 points, a full shot; best picture is 10 points, a double shot.) All the participants make their predictions prior to the show, and these are recorded on a large board. Every correct guess is recorded with the appropriate point value, and wrong guesses are punished with the corresponding drink value.
I always prepare by watching as many of the nominated films as possible, but one of the difficult categories to predict are the shorts: Best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short, Best Documentary Short. These are three points apiece, with a half-shot penalty for wrong guesses. However, they are not necessarily as accessible as the rest of the nominees.
Luckily, this year, the Louisville Exclusives series at Village 8 is showcasing all the nominated animated and live action short films, in two separate programs. There are some fantastic and interesting films involved, including, in the animated sector, a Simpsons
short and the beautiful
Paperman
(which screened in theaters prior to
Wreck-It Ralph
), and in live action, films from around the world, including Afghanistan, South Africa, and Belgium.
Information about all the Oscar nominated shorts can be found at the category's official website.
Village 8 is located at 4014 Dutchmans Lane. Complete theater information and showtimes can be found at the Village 8 website.
Image: Internet Movie Database
