An annual tradition prior to the Oscars, The Center and Magic Lantern give film lovers the chance to see all the Oscar nominated shorts in four evenings.

Important note on the Live Action program: this is a heavy group of films this year. Imperiled children, murder, racial violence. Please consider this lineup as an R rated selection due to violence, language, and adult themes.

MADRE   A single mother receives a call from her seven-year-old son who is on vacation with his father in the French Basque Country. At first the call is a cause for joy, but soon it becomes a nightmare when the child tells her that he is alone, cannot find his father, and a stranger is approaching. Spain, 19 minutes.

FAUVE   Set in a surface mine, two boys sink into a seemingly innocent power game with Mother Nature as the sole observer. Alone in the wild, the two boys play around. Complicity evolves into a confrontation where one wants power over the other. This game will not prove as harmless as they thought. Canada, 17 minutes.

MARGUERITE   An aging woman and her nurse develop a friendship that inspires her to unearth unacknowledged longing, and helps her make peace with her past. Canada, 19 minutes.

DETAINMENT   Two ten year-old boys are detained by police under suspicion of abducting and murdering a toddler. A true story based on interview transcripts from the James Bulger case which shocked the world in 1993 and continues to incite public outrage across the UK today. Ireland, 30 minutes.

SKIN   A small supermarket in a blue collar town, a black man smiles at a 10 year old white boy across the checkout aisle. This innocuous moment sends two gangs into a ruthless war that ends with a shocking backlash. 20 minutes.

Total running time of films is 108 minutes.