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“The One Note Man” director George Siougas has crafted perhaps the most visually impressive live-action short of this year. The silent, musical masterpiece depicts “The Crown” actor Jason Watkins as a bassoonist who lives a routine, monotonous existence. each day passes in the exact same as his life passes him by before said routine is broken by a fellow musician in the orchestra he plays in and his world is changed forever.

Speaking to Siougas, who has directed plenty of episodes of British soaps “Hollyoaks” and “Casualty,” gives you the immediate impression that this is a filmmaker who loves cinema. And he truly, truly is. He was inspired to make “The One Note Man” after re-watching Alfred Hitchcock films, with the opening of “The Man Who Knew Too Much” a particular inspiration.

In the writing process, he soon found that dialogue wasn’t necessary to tell this story and the decision was a smart one.

There are a host of big-name players in this year’s Best Live Action Short Film Oscar race with Wes Anderson‘s “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” Pedro Almódovar‘s “Strange Way of Life,” and the John Travolta-produced “The Shepherd” all in the mix. But Tom Stuart‘s quirky British short “Good Boy” has a big name (and a big performance) of its own: Ben Whishaw.

The short follows Whishaw as a down-on-his-luck man who tries to turn his life around with the help of his anarchic mum (Marion Bailey) but figures from his past and a bygone tragedy threaten to consume and derail him. The short film blends multiple genres including comedy, drama, and tragedy and it is Whishaw’s powerhouse performance that is propelling this little indie film that could into a race full of the big boys.

Indeed, Whishaw’s performance is the film’s Mvp.

Ben Radcliffe in The Shepherd Photo: courtesy of Disney

Most short films are relatively low budget affairs and, accordingly, exercise caution about the challenges they take on, but that’s not the only way to make them. Amongst those shortlisted for this year’s Oscars is Iain Softley’s The Shepherd, which follows the journey of pilot Freddie (Ben Radcliffe), who finds himself in unexpected peril when he suffers a catastrophic instrument failure whilst flying alone in a small plane at night. All Freddie wants is to get back home to his girlfriend for Christmas, but as time passes, in a strange world defined by bright stars and an enormous moon, he is forced to reckon with his mortality.

Iain has made some highly successful features in the past, from The Wings Of The Dove to Inkheart, but here he explores the short form for the first time. It’s all the more exciting then,...

“It felt so present and current,” declares writer and director Iain Softley about the “The Shepherd,” his short film adaptation of Fredrick Forsythe‘s beloved novella. Currently streaming on Disney +, the film was recently shortlisted for Best Live Action Short at the 96th Academy Awards. In an exclusive video interview with Gold Derby (watch above), Softley discusses his process of adapting the beloved novella for the screen.

“The Shepherd” tells the story of a young Royal Air Force pilot (Ben Radcliffe) heading home for the Christmas holiday. While flying over the North Sea, the pilot’s plane experiences a total electrical failure. All seems lost until a nearby pilot (John Travolta) guides the plane to a deserted airbase. The novella that the film is based on is extremely popular around the world, so popular that Travolta himself had once purchased the rights to the novella in the hopes of making it into a film.

We all know that if there’s one thing harder than predicting the winners of the three short film categories at the Oscars, it’s predicting which films will get nominated in those categories. Well Derbyites, we’re here to help make predicting those nominees a little easier. Below we have listed all 15 shortlisted titles for Best Live Action Short along with descriptions of each one. We’ve also included information and links on where you can view the finalists.

Among the plots of this year’s crop are a rideshare driver dealing with grief, a chance meeting between a trans woman and a cis man, a woman traveling out of state to obtain an abortion, and a fighter pilot in need of a miracle to make it home for Christmas.

SEEDozens of video interviews with 2024 awards contenders

“The After” – In the midst of his grief, a rideshare driver picks...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced shortlists in 10 categories for the 96th Academy Awards. 15 films from each of the categories below were shortlisted. There were no surprises when it came to most of the big film Oscar nominations like ‘Oppenheimer’, ‘Barbie’, ‘Poor Things’ and ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’. India’s Oscar entry ‘2018: Everyone is a Hero’ did not make the cut in a strong International feature film lineup. There were some surprises as well with Chilean film ‘The Settlers’, Argentinian film ‘The Delinquents’ and Turkish film ‘About Dry Grasses’ being snubbed.

Documentary Feature Film

“American Symphony”

“Apolonia, Apolonia”

“Beyond Utopia”

“Bobi Wine: The People’s President”

“Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy”

“The Eternal Memory”

“Four Daughters”

“Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project”

“In the Rearview”

“Stamped from the Beginning”

“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”

“A Still Small Voice...

Just in time for the holiday season, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has gifted a slew of films the honor of being included on the 2024 Oscars shortlists in a range of categories.

The annual shortlists for International Feature Film, Documentary, Sound, Original Score, Original Song, Makeup and Hairstyling, Visual Effects, Live-Action Short Film, Documentary Short Subject, and Animated Short Film were unveiled December 21, almost one month exactly before the complete Oscar nominations will be announced.

Anticipated inclusions for Oscar frontrunners like “Barbie,” “Poor Things,” and “Maestro” made the cut in a variety of categories. Ukrainian documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” and Tunisian Isis saga “Four Daughters” are both pulling double duty with shortlist inclusions in the International Feature and Documentary Feature categories.

Academy Award nomination voting runs from January 11 – 16, with the official nominations announced on January 23. Final voting will then run from February 22 – 27, with the 96th annual...

Stars: Ben Radcliffe, John Travolta, Claire Price, Scarlet Grace, Iwan Bond, Simon Wilson, Millie Kent, Steven Mackintosh | Written and Directed by Iain Softley

I don’t usually cover shorts, I always seem to have more features to review than I do time, but I had to make an exception for The Shepherd. I remembered reading Frederick Forsyth’s novella when I was growing up, and a reading of it by the late Al Maitland has been a Christmas tradition on CBC radio since 1979. So, telling myself that since The Academy considers forty minutes to be feature length I finally used the Disney+ subscription my wife got us and checked it out.

Freddie is an Raf pilot stationed in Germany who wishes he was home for the holidays. He sees his chance when a fellow pilot is injured and can’t make his scheduled flight to England. Despite only recently qualifying...

As far as short films go, the good ones are those that have just a single plot line and do not complicate things by adding other superfluous things to embellish the narrative. The new short film The Shepherd is an example of such a film. Based on the novella of the same name by Frederick Forsyth, The Shepherd is an evocative short film that rekindles our faith in miracles. The Shepherd is a Christmas story directed by Iain Softley and stars John Travolta and Steven Mackintosh. Miracles of Christmas are well known in cinema, and the heartwarming tales serve as a great reminder of the importance of not losing hope, as help might be just around the corner. Mixing the festive spirit with an important story about the brave pilots of World War 2, The Shepherd becomes a tale about sacrifice as well. All of it is done in a seamless manner,...

The path to getting a movie from script to screen can be a long one even for short films. That was certainly the case for the latest Disney+ short “The Shepherd,” which stars Ben Radcliffe and John Travolta as two fighter pilots in the 1950s. The story, adapted from Frederick Forsyth’s novella, follows Radcliffe as a young pilot who, on Christmas Eve, flies home to England. However, mid-way through the flight, his plane malfunctions and the electrics fail, leaving Radcliffe lost and stranded. What happens next makes for a heartwarming Christmas tale akin to “A Christmas Carol” and the like. I attended a special Q&a screening in London with director Iain Softley and John Travolta with critic Mark Kermode moderating.

“I don’t have many projects I’ve ever invested my heart and soul into and this is one of the only ones,” explained Travolta. The actor seemed...

Are you ready for a spine-tingling Christmas tale that will make you question your reality? Disney Plus and Alfonso Cuarón, the mastermind behind ‘Gravity’ and ‘Roma,’ present ‘The Shepherd’, a short film that will haunt you long after the credits roll.

Written and directed by Iain Softley, and starring John Travolta as the mysterious saviour, ‘The Shepherd’ is based on the book by Frederick Forsyth and tells the story of a young Raf pilot who faces a life-or-death situation on Christmas Eve. Flying home across the North Sea, he loses his radio and electric power, and his fuel is running low. Just when he thinks he is doomed, he hears a voice on the radio, guiding him to safety. But who is this voice, and what is his connection to the pilot? Find out in ‘The Shepherd’, a ghost story that will touch your heart and challenge your mind.

On...

John Travolta is sharing a scary story.

The 69-year-old actor opened up about a near-death experience at a special screening of his new Disney+ film, The Shepherd, in London, England.

“I knew what it felt like to absolutely think you’re going to die,” he recalled, via Variety.

Back in 1992, when he was 38, John Travolta was flying a corporate jet with his family on board when he experienced “a total electrical failure” during the flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Rockland, Maine on Thanksgiving Day.

“I had two good jet engines, but I had no instruments, no electric, nothing. And I thought it was over,” he said, until a “miracle” occurred.

“And then as if by a miracle, we descended as per the rules to lower altitude. I saw the Washington D.C. monument and identified that Washington National Airport was next to it and I made a landing just like [Freddie] does in the film,...

John Travolta has shared that he was inspired to make his new film by a near-death experience he just recently gone through himself.

The BBC reports that the actor, who stars in the film The Shepherd, adapted from a novella by Frederick Forsyth, told a London audience:

“The kismet of the project is, I actually experienced a total electrical failure, not in a Vampire but a corporate jet, over Washington DC, prior to my discovering the book.

“So when I read the book, it resonated more because of this experience I’d personally had. I knew what it felt like to absolutely think you’re going to die, because I had two good jet engines but I had no instruments, no electric, nothing.

“And I thought it was over, just like this boy, portrayed so beautifully [by actor Ben Radcliffe]. He captured that despair when you think you’re actually going to die.

John Travolta has revealed it was his own near-death experience while flying a plane on Thanksgiving that first drew him to “The Shepherd,” the new Alfonso Cuarón-produced short film set to premiere on Disney+ this winter.

The film, which is based on Frederick Forsyth’s 1975 novella of the same name, tells the story of Freddie Hooke (played by Ben Radcliffe), a young Royal Air Force pilot flying home for Christmas across the North Sea. Shortly into the journey, his de Havilland Vampire jet suffers total electrical failure, leaving Freddie facing almost certain death. Suddenly a mysterious pilot (played by Travolta) appears in the sky, ready to guide the young man to safety.

Travolta eschewed a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday evening in favor of attending the film’s intimate premiere in London, where he watched “The Shepherd” on a big screen for the first time before participating in a...

It’s not just about those repeats of A Christmas Story on TNT anymore.

Multiple linear channels and streamers are getting into the holiday spirit this month and next by dropping original Christmas movies, as well as old favorites and one-off holiday specials. As usual, Hallmark has wall-to-wall flicks planned until the end of the month, but Great American Family, Lifetime and BET have their own original slates as well to help ring in the new year.

And if the classics are all that you are looking for, there are still airings of It’s a Wonderful Life, Elf, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Home Alone, The Santa Cause, The Wizard of Oz and Miracle on 34th Street scheduled for the boomers and Gen Xers.

And yes, on the big days, several channels have do have marathon programming events.

Check it all out below.

November 9

Christmas Angel (BET)

November 10

Everything Christmas...

The hugely popular Christian historical drama series The Chosen has released a trailer for its upcoming Christmas special, which is set to debut in theaters across the United States on December 12. According to the official synopsis, the special will focus on the Nativity Story, showing Jesus’ birth through the eyes of Mary and Joseph. It will combine Christmas with The Chosen: Holy Night with the previous holiday special The Messengers and the show’s pilot episode, “The Shepherd,” into one remastered and re-scored story. In addition, the special will include a never-before-seen performance from Andrea and Matteo Bocelli, featuring seven music performances and two new monologues. “The Chosen Christmas special will have the authenticity and the magic of ‘The Shepherd’ matched with the production value, the caliber and the profound storytelling of The Messengers,” Katherine Warnock, vice president of original content at The Chosen, said in a statement.  Other...

The new original live-action short "The Shepherd", written and directed by Iain Softley, stars Ben Radcliffe, Steven Mackintosh and John Travolta, sreaming December 1, 2023 on Disney+:

"...on Christmas Eve, a young 'Royal Air Force' pilot flying home across the North Sea finds himself in peril when his radio and electric power cut out, leaving him stranded and running on limited fuel.

" Just when it appears his luck is about to run out, a mysterious good Samaritan guides him to safety..."

Click the images to enlarge...

Year 10, the directorial feature debut of Brit filmmaker Ben Goodger, has wrapped production and is now set to make its market debut at the AFM, where Archstone Entertainment will be handling sales after having acquired worldwide rights.

The apocalyptic adventure is set 10 years after the fall of civilization, with the environment having become hostile and dangerous and cannibalism the only option for humanity’s dwindling survivors. When a violent tribe murders his father and steals the medicine keeping his girlfriend alive, Jake must embark on a treacherous journey battling the elements, packs of vicious wild dogs and the cannibal group or else lose the only thing he has left.

Year 10 comes from U.K. production outfit Bk Studios and is produced by the late Bill Kenwright (Cheri, Another Mother’s Son) and executive produced by David Gilbery (The Lost Daughter) and Naomi George (My Pure Land). Scott Martin, Michael Slifkin and...