Best live action short, best documentary short, and best animated short are the three Oscar categories that honour movies that are 40 minutes or less. These categories are frequently thought of as "small," but this year's contenders for them will have some big names.

Taylor Swift's directorial debut, All Too Well: The Short Film, which the pop star has described as "a film about an effervescent, curious young woman who ends up completely out of her depth," received an Oscar nomination. This news follows recent Academy Awards ceremonies at which celebrities like retired NBA legend Kobe Bryant, former NFL player Matthew A. Cherry, and Hollywood A-lister Riz Ahmed brought home awards for short films.

In the fall of last year, the 14-minute production, which Swift created and directed ten years after the release of her hugely successful power ballad "All Too Well," screened at the AMC Lincoln Square for one week, from November 12 (the day of its premiere there) through November 18. And while though that time would have disqualified it from the best picture competition this year, which requires a release within the calendar year prior to the Oscars ceremony, it works perfectly for the best live action short race. The eligibility period for which opened on October 1, 2021, and ends on September 30, 2019.

Taylor Swift attended a screening of All Too Well: The Short Film at the Tribeca Film Festival this summer. The film is in the running for best live action short Oscar. Kendrick Lamar's We Cry Together and Sadie Sink's Where the Crawdads Sing are also vying for the prize.

Lamar and Dave Free's 38 at the Garden screened in Laemmle's 180-seat main theater for one screening per day. The film revisits the story of former New York Knicks basketball star Jeremy Lin. It was produced by 2021 best live action short Oscar winner Travon Free and EP'd by CNN host Lisa Ling. It tells the story of the late Patsy Takemoto Mink, co-author of Title IX. She was the first woman of color elected to the U.S. House of Represenatives and a pioneer in the field of equal rights.