The nominations for the 97th Academy Awards presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), aka the Oscars 2025 have been announced. A Hindi short film titled Anuja is the closest thing to Indian representation at the Oscars, with its nomination for 'Best Live Action Short Film'.
Anuja with story, direction, and co-editing by Adam J Graves, revolves around a 9-year-old titular character, who works in a garment factory in Delhi. When Anuja (Sajda Pathan) is given a rare opportunity to attend school, she faces a heart-wrenching choice that impacts her and her sister Palak’s (Ananya Shanbhag) future.
Indian non-profit and non-governmental organizations like Salaam Baalak Trust, and Shine Global, have produced Anuja alongside Graves Films and Krushan Naik Films. Tamil origin American actress Mindy Kaling later joined as a producer on Anuja, while Oscar winner Guneet Monga and Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas are executive producers on the film.
Celebrated the special moment with Sajda (Anuja), Ananya (Palak), and Team #Anuja ✨
— Guneet Monga Kapoor (@guneetm) January 24, 2025
When the Oscars call your name - the cheers echo across continents and time zones! Here’s to team #Anuja, whose resilience has brought us so far and so close to the most prestigious film honour. pic.twitter.com/ezuLMOEBjY
Anuja is up against American short film A Lien, which makes a social commentary on US immigration process, Dutch black comedy I'm Not a Robot which is about a music producer wondering if she is a robot after repeatedly failing the captcha tests, South African short The Last Ranger, which is the second film in the anthology called, When The World Stopped, and Croatian drama The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent aka Čovjek koji nije mogao šutjeti, which is based on the Štrpci massacre of 1993, where 18 Bosniak Muslims, and 1 Croat were pulled off a train by the Serbian White Eagles paramilitary group, and massacred.
The 97th Academy Award ceremony will take place on March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Anuja with a runtime of 22 minutes, will soon be available to stream on the Netflix OTT platform in India.