With the IMDb rating system and so few people having voted (especially compared to the Live Action and Animated shorts), it seems kind of pointless to relay those statistics for these purposes as I just did with the Animated shorts. Before looking at the Gold Derby pundits, I figured the race was between Inocente and Mondays at Racine with the edge to the former. Upon looking at their guesses, I stumbled upon a hot mess. The popular choice is Open Heart with half of the twenty experts behind it. Next in line would be Inocente, with five votes (Feinberg, Geler, Khan, Thompson, Whipp), though it would probably be six if Sasha Stone was still on board. With three calls (Horgan, Rosen, Simanton), Kings Points makes it in. Mondays at Racine has two key prognosticators: Hammond and Lodge. Not surprisingly, no one is predicting Redemption. I'm left still torn between my initial instincts with no inclination to choose Open Heart. It really could either be Inocente or Racine, but I'll stick with my gut and say Inocente. Inocente
A teenager uses art to escape the dire circumstances of being homeless. The MTV short has a pretty prevalent presence in social media. Watch a five minute spot in Spanish here. Directors Sean Fine and Andrea Nix have been nominated before for War Dance.
Mondays at Racine
A Long Island hair salon run by two sisters puts aside one day of every month for women diagnosed with cancer. Director Cynthia Wade has been recognized for numerous documentaries and shorts, including winning an Oscar for Freeheld, which almost got made into a film starring Ellen Page.
Open Heart
Kief Davidson's short deals with children from Rwanda traveling to Sudan seeking heart surgeries for problems initially caused by minor illnesses.
Kings Point
Sari Gilman's retirement home comedy short about residents dealing with loss and love in their twilight years.
Redemption
Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill were previously nominated for China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province. This time, they examine the men and women of our society who survive by collecting discarded bottles and cans. Out of all five nominees, this entry has the poorest presence in social media and on the internet.
