I have already written about the films nominated for the Oscars this year that were worth mentioning. There are only a few more recommendations left to make.

I have also already written about most of the winners: ‘Dune’ that received 6 statuettes, ‘CODA’ which won the Best Film category or ‘The Power of the Dog’ with the Best Director award. The last winner I want to mention won the Best Documentary Feature but this win was overshadowed by an unfortunate incident. It actually overshadowed the whole ceremony and the next day nobody was talking about the winning films which I believe is very sad. So let’s again concentrate on the films here.

‘Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)’ shows us unseen footage of the Harlem Cultural Festival that took place in 1969 in New York. All the biggest stars of that time, such as B. B. King, Steve Wonder and Nina Simone among others, performed there and it was all recorded but the full material was never transmitted. This event itself got overshadowed by Woodstock and forgotten with time. This film is a great mix of great music that shaped generations and interviews giving new insights on these turbulent times in our history.

The other two films I would like to mention here were both nominated for Animated Feature Film. ‘Encanto’ won this title but it was a hard choice. The only film in this category that I haven’t seen was ‘Flee’ but ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ as well as ‘Luca’ and ‘The Mitchells vs. the Machines’all had great messages, not just for the children. Last week I wrote about ‘Raya…’ so today we will concentrate on the other two.

‘Luca’ is about otherness and how some of us are afraid of the unknown. That fear sometimes causes rejection and hatred that can only be conquered by getting to know each other better. Not realizing that deep down we are all the same makes people separate themselves from one another. Other very important themes in this film are love of learning and the importance of the family, not just the natural one but the one we choose for ourselves, like Alberto and Gulia’s father Massimo did.

‘The Mitchells vs. the Machines’ on the other hand are about the family of origin and how important it is in our lives. We should make an effort to connect with all the members of our family. Sometimes we do not see other people’s good intentions and misinterpret their actions and words. But a common enemy can change all that and make us see the truth. Hopefully, we do not need the apocalypse to do that.

For a while now documentaries talking about real life stories and children’s films, reminding us what is really important in life, are two of my favorite kinds of movies. That’s why I also recommend the short animations and short documentaries nominated this year for the Oscars.