Where to Catch Nominated Films Before the 2025 Oscars

The 97th Academy Awards (the 2025 Oscars) will air on March 2, and a time-honored tradition for many moviegoers is watching as many of the nominated films as possible before the big day. Westchester nonprofit movie theaters are ready to help by screening some of what the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has deemed as the must-see movies of the past year.  

For anyone eager to view the nominated shorts and features, local Westchester film houses are offering special screenings until the day of the event. In fact, Bedford Playhouse will also host an Oscar Preview Party on the night of the awards, where guests can enjoy a pre-show reception, film critic Janet Maslin’s insights on the nominees and a live screening of the ceremony.

Feature Films

The Picture House in Pelham is the place to see Seed of the Sacred Fig, which is up for Best International Feature. During a time of political unrest in Tehran, a judge loses his gun and suspects his family.

Meanwhile, The Picture House’s Bronxville location will screen Soundtrack to a Coup d’etat, nominated for Best Documentary Feature, which will also begin screening at Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC) on February 28, just in time for the awards show.  Another film from the documentary features category to be screened at JBFC is No Other Land, created by a Palestinian-Israeli collective as an act of “creative resistance.”

JBFC will also screenthree Best Picture nominees: The Brutalist, one of the most nominated films of the year starring Adrien Brody; A Complete Unknown, the Bob Dylan biopic with Timothée Chalamet; and I’m Still Here, about a woman who seeks the truth behind the disappearance of her husband.

Westchester Proud: Sing Sing

One movie that elicits local pride is the movie Sing Sing, which was inspired by a real-life theater program for incarcerated individuals that was initiated by Rehabilitation Through the Arts, an organization based in Purchase. The program, which aims to use the arts as a catalyst for helping participants to developing critical life skills, boasts a very low recidivism rate for people who participate in it compared to those who don’t. The film is nominated for three awards at the 2025 Oscars – Best Actor, Best Original Song and Best Adapted Screenplay, and can be watched from home on Amazon Prime.

Oscar Shorts

The big stars of local screenings are this year’s short films. Recognized in three categories—Animated, Live Action and Documentary—these movies highlight emerging voices, unique storytelling and compelling narratives in a tight, condensed format.

• Documentary Shorts

Each year, the Documentary Short category shines a light on informative and inspiring stories based on real-life events. These films often emphasize pressing social issues, tackle personal struggles and showcase remarkable achievements, all in a short-form presentation. The documentary shorts nominated this year include Instruments of a Beating Heart, the story of a young girl’s journey to overcome fear and find her place in a school music performance. Incident is told via police body-camera footage, examining the 2018 shooting of Harith Augustus. I Am Ready, Warden provides an intimate look at a Texas death row inmate seeking redemption in his final days before execution. In The Only Girl in the Orchestra tells of Orin O’Brien, the trailblazing double bassist who broke barriers in the New York Philharmonic. Lastly, Death by Numbers follows a school shooting survivor as she grapples with trauma and prepares to confront the person who tried to take her life. The short films are screened as a collection at Jacob Burns Film Center, The Bedford Playhouse and The Picture House in Pelham and Bronxville, with schedules expected to be updated soon.

• Live Action Shorts

The Live Action Shorts category features fictional narratives that, this year, explore themes ranging from immigration struggles to human resilience in moments of crisis. The live-action shorts nominated for 2025 Oscars include The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, which transports viewers to 1993 Bosnia, where a single passenger confronts paramilitary forces as they drag innocent civilians from a train. In Anuja, a gifted nine-year-old girl faces a heart-wrenching decision when she’s given a rare chance to attend school. I’m Not a Robot follows a music producer who repeatedly fails CAPTCHA tests, leading her to question her basic humanity. A Lien takes on the complexities of immigration as a young couple faces unexpected challenges at their green card interview. Finally, The Last Ranger follows a young boy in South Africa where he and a gaming ranger are ambushed by poachers. Film lovers can catch these narratives, which are screened as a collection, at the Jacob Burns Film Center, Bedford Playhouse and both The Picture House locations.

• Animated Shorts

Animated Shorts often bring visually stunning and thought-provoking stories to life. This year’s nominees range from whimsical tales to deeply emotional narratives. The featured nominees include Magic Candies, which follows a lonely boy who discovers a bag of enchanted sweets that let him hear voices he’s never noticed before. In the Shadow of the Cypress sets its sights on a former sea captain battling PTSD and struggling to connect with his daughter. Yuck! humorously explores the awkwardness of childhood crushes as young Léo, disgusted by public displays of affection, secretly wonders about kissing. Wander to Wonder takes a surreal turn as three miniature actors from a children’s TV show continue making episodes long after their creator’s death despite their costumes decaying and their hunger growing. Finally, Beautiful Men follows three brothers traveling to Istanbul for hair transplants, only to face an unexpected challenge that brings their insecurities—and their complicated relationship—to the surface. The Animated Shorts program is/will be available at the Jacob Burns Film Center, Bedford Playhouse and The Picture House.

After Oscars

The movie exploration doesn’t end with the 2025 Oscars. Bedford Playhouse will screen Nickel Boys and I’m Still Here in the weeks following the award show, while JBFC plans to screen additional movies after as well.  

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