(LONG BEACH ISLAND, NJ) -- Lighthouse International Film Society will present The 2022 Oscar Nominated Shorts Series at the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences March 18-19 offering you the chance to pick the winner of The Oscar Shorts! There will be three separate showings for the three categories of shorts. Films are $10 online /$12 door. There is a discount of $25 for all three screenings- (Animation, Live Action & Documentary) Pick your favorite genre or come to all three. NOTE: These films are for adult audiences only. 

Live Action Shorts - Friday, March 18 at 7:00pm. Total Run Time: 121 minutes with 5 Nominated Shorts. The Live Action category features provocative films that investigate varying facets of our human nature. Rating equivalent of R. No children should be admitted under any circumstances. 

ON MY MIND - Henrik wants to sing a song for his wife. It has to be today, it has to be now. It’s a question of life, death and karaoke.

PLEASE HOLD - In the not-so-distant future, Mateo (20s, Latino) is arrested by a police drone without explanation. Finding himself locked in a fully automated jail with no means of recourse, Mateo realizes he’s fallen through some kind of crack in the system. To get out alive he’ll have to go head-to-head with the labyrinthine, computerized bureaucracy of the privatized American justice system, in search of an actual human being who can set things right.

ALA KACHUU-TAKE AND RUN -  Sezim, 19 years old, wants to fulfill her dream of studying in the Kyrgyz capital when she gets kidnapped by a group of young men and taken to the hinterland. There, she’s forced to marry a stranger. If she refuses the marriage, she is threatened with social stigmatization and exclusion. Torn between her desire for freedom and the constraints of Kyrgyz culture, Sezim desperately seeks a way out.

THE LONG GOODBYE - Riz and his family are in the middle of preparing a wedding celebration when the events unfolding in the outside world arrive suddenly on their doorstep. The result is a devastating and visceral feat of filmmaking, and a poignant poetic cry from the heart.

THE DRESS - Lust, sexuality and physicality. These are the deepest desires virgin Julia suppresses while working at a wayside motel. That is until she crosses paths with a handsome truck driver, who soon becomes the object of her fantasies...

Animated Shorts - Saturday, March 19 at 1:00pm. Total Run Time: 97 minutes with 5 Nominated Shorts. The shorts in the Animation category explore a range of adult subjects through a diverse range of animation styles. Rating equivalent of R. No children should be admitted under any circumstances.

AFFAIRS OF THE ART - Director Joanna Quinn and producer/screenwriter Les Mills continue the series of beloved, hilarious and award-winning animated UK films starring Beryl, a 59-year-old factory worker who’s obsessed with drawing and determined to become a hyper-futurist artiste. We also meet her grown son, Colin, a techno geek, her husband, Ifor, now Beryl’s model and muse, and her sister, Beverly, a fanatical narcissist living in LA.

BESTIA - Inspired by real events, BESTIA enters the life of a secret police agent in the military dictatorship in Chile. The relationship with her dog, her body, her fears and frustrations, reveal a macabre fracture in her mind and a country.

ROBIN ROBIN - An Aardman Production is the tale of a small bird with a very big heart. After a shaky nativity of her own – her unhatched egg falls out of the nest and into a rubbish dumpster – she comes out of her shell, in more ways than one, and is adopted by a loving family of mice burglars. More beak and feathers than fur, tail and ears, more cluck and klutz than tip-toe and stealth, she is nonetheless beloved by her adopted family, a Dad Mouse and four siblings.

BOXBALLET - Delicate ballerina Olya meets Evgeny, a rough boxer who personifies “strong but silent.” With very different lives and worldviews, will they be brave enough to embrace their feelings? Can two fragile souls hang on to each other despite the world’s cruelty?

THE WINDSHIELD WIPER - Inside a cafe, while smoking a whole pack of cigarettes, a man poses an ambitious question: “What is Love?” A collection of vignettes and situations will lead the man to the desired conclusion.

Documentary Shorts - Saturday, March 19th at 7:00pm. Total Run Time: 160 minutes + 15-minute intermission with 5 Nominated Shorts. The short films featured in the Documentary category reflect a range of topics and perspectives. Rating equivalent of PG-13 or R for adult themes and topics.

AUDIBLE - A cinematic and immersive coming-of-age documentary following Maryland School for the Deaf high school athlete Amaree McKenstry and his close friends, as they face the pressures of senior year and grappling with the realities of venturing off into the hearing world. Amaree and his teammates take out their frustrations on the football field as they battle to protect an unprecedented winning streak, while coming to terms with the tragic loss of a close friend. This is a story about kids who stand up to adversity. They face conflict, but approach the future with hope – shouting to the world that they exist and they matter.

THE QUEEN OF BASKETBALL - She is one of the greatest living women’s basketball players. 3 national trophies. Scored the first basket in women’s Olympic basketball at the ‘76 Olympics. Drafted to the NBA. But have you ever heard of Lusia Harris?

WE WERE THE BULLIES - A mind-boggling coincidence leads the filmmaker to track down his fifth grade class and fifth grade teacher to examine their memory of and complicity in a bullying incident 50 years ago.

LEAD ME HOME - 500,000 Americans experience homelessness every night. LEAD ME HOME is a documentary short by Jon Shenk and Pedro Kos that captures the experience from multiple perspectives. This immersive, cinematic film personalizes the overwhelming issue by telling the real-life stories of those going through it as a first step toward challenging uninformed attitudes and outmoded policies and gives the audience a rare, in-depth look at the scale, scope and diversity of unsheltered America today.

THREE SONGS FOR BENAZIR - The story of Shaista, a young man who—newly married to Benazir and living in a displacement camp in Kabul—struggles to balance his dreams of being the first from his tribe to join the Afghan National Army with the responsibilities of starting a family. Gulistan and Elizabeth Mirzaei’s remarkable access sheds light on the experience of modern-day Afghans who live, love, and seek space for themselves amid constant instability. THREE SONGS FOR BENAZIR was nominated for the 15th Annual Cinema Eye Honors and was the winner of six jury awards, including Best Short at Full Frame.

Tickets are available for purchase online.

Lighthouse International Film Society thanks their sponsors for bringing The Oscar Shorts to Long Beach Island Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Ocean County Cultural and Heritage Commission, Giglio Awning, NorthEnd Property Management.