‘Music by Prudence’; ‘The New Tenants’

Documentary short

“Music by Prudence”

Roger Ross Williams

and Elinor Burkett

In a category some might be surprised to still see on the broadcast in a year of 10 best-picture nominees, the Oscar for documentary short subject went to “Music by Prudence,” made by Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett, the story of a band of disabled musicians in Zimbabwe.

Williams made it to the stage first and had begun speaking when Burkett stepped to the microphone and excitedly began talking over Williams.

“In a world in which most of us are told, and tell ourselves, that we can’t, we honor the band behind this film who teaches us that we’re wrong,” Burkett said. “Against all odds, they did, so we can.”

Live-action short

“The New Tenants”

Joachim Back

and Tivi Magnusson

A verbose black comedy with a high body count, “The New Tenants” tells the story of two roommates who move into a new apartment only to find that the previous occupants haven’t exactly moved out.

Director Back accepted the Oscar along with producer Magnusson. The film’s screenplay was adapted by David Rakoff from a script by Danish filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen.

Containing references to the plays of Samuel Beckett and other existential and absurdist dramas, the film unfolds as a series of nervous, nicotine-fueled conversations that take place almost entirely in the dingy, monochromatic apartment.

The cast includes Vincent D’Onofrio and Liane Balaban as visitors who wreak havoc on the lives of the two newcomers, played by Jamie Harrold and Rakoff.

The film’s sickly, bluish-green palette was created by Oscar-nominated Polish cinematographer Pawel Edelman.