Confusion over India’s entry in Live Action Short Film category at Oscars

The Sayani Gupta-starrer, Shameless, by writer-director Keith Gomes is one of the films from India eligible for qualification in the Live Action Short Film Category at the 93rd Oscars. Just days after the Film Federation of India selected Malayalam film “Jallikattu” as India’s official entry to the Oscars 2021, Gomes’ and his team shared that their film “Shameless” is the official Indian entry in the Live Action Short Film category at the 93rd Oscars.

Each year, the Film Federation of India selects the Indian official entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. In the case of short films, five Indian shorts are eligible for Oscar qualification.

With over 2000 entries, ShortsTV had hosted the third edition of the Best of India Short Film Festival earlier this month. The jury had declared short “Natkhat”, featuring and co-produced by Vidya Balan, as the winning film of the third edition. This made the film eligible for an Oscar nomination.

Following the announcement, Vidya had told IANS: “This is great news. Not something I had thought of, but I am very happy.”

However, the other finalists of this edition are also eligible for Oscar consideration.

These other short films are: Gomes’ “Shameless”, “Sound-Proof” by director Aditya Kelgaonkar, “Safar” helmed by Pratyusha Gupta and director Dheeraj Jindal’s “Trapped”.

“Best of India Short Film Festival has established itself as a leading industry festival spotlighting inimitable, original work and give Indian talent a chance to bring home an Oscar. It has paved the way for Indian filmmakers to take their art to Oscars and provided them a platform to showcase their films to a global audience through ShortsTV, the world’s only dedicated platform for short entertainment,” said Carter Pilcher, Chief Executive of ShortsTV.

The Oscars shortlist will be unveiled on February 9, 2021, and nominations will be announced on March 15.