The packaging of five short films — fiction — competing for the Oscar for short film (live action) always makes for very enjoyable viewing. The shorts include: “Shok,” a powerful, sad and very moving tale of two young boys whose relationship dramatically changes during wartime in Kosovo in 1998; “Stutterer,” a sweet and charming story of a lonely stutterer who anxiously faces the prospect of meeting in person a woman with whom he has developed an online relationship; “Day One,” about an Afghan-American woman dealing with unexpected complications on her first mission with international troops in Afghanistan; “Everything Will Be Okay,” a tense German story of a desperate divorced farther who goes to great lengths not to lose access to his young daughter; and “Ave Maria,” a surprisingly slight tale set in the West Bank where religious settlers experience a car breakdown — just as the Sabbath begins — outside a convent where the nuns have taken a vow of silence. I think you’ll be impressed with almost all of these films. (Some subtitles.)
