Screenings of all the Academy Award nominees for animated and live-action shorts has become a well-attended tradition at Film Streams, Omaha’s nonprofit arthouse movie theater.

In fact, the shorts are often held over for weeks. Among first-run films, they have made the list of the year’s top 10 draws at Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater at 14th and Mike Fahey Streets.

Why are they so popular?

“I think it’s because people are so used to seeing these categories on Oscar night,” said Casey Logan, marketing chief for Film Streams. “So they’re curious about them.”

He’s right. It’s more fun to watch the show if you’ve seen the movies, whatever category is being announced.

There’s also the fact that, among hundreds of eligible short films each year, the five nominees are pretty darn good examples of filmmaking.

Film Streams lets all patrons to the short-film screenings vote for their favorite, so it’s kind of like making believe you are an Academy voter. Results often don’t match Academy picks.

This year for the first time you can see not only the live-action and animated shorts, starting Feb. 11 (this is the fifth year Film Streams has screened those), but also the documentary shorts, starting Feb. 12. Each set of five nominees is run as a separate program. (Documentary shorts alone run nearly 3½ hours.) You can buy a ticket at regular admission prices to each of the shorts categories. Oscar night is Feb. 27.

Oscar shorts nominees are chosen by special panels appointed by the Academy to sift through the many submitted films. Academy voters are allowed to vote for shorts winners only if they attest to having seen all the nominees at special Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences screenings.

I got an advance peek at the live-action and animated nominees. Here’s a little preview to whet your appetite.

Animated shorts (unrated, likely PG):

“Day & Night,” 6 minutes, a Pixar short that ran with screenings of “Toy Story 3.” Day, a sunny fellow, encounters Night, a stranger, and their differences spark conflict. But when the two discover how each offers a different perspective of the same world, they click.

“Let’s Pollute,” 6 minutes, American. Narrated like an educational film from the 1960s, the film spoofs polluting, wasteful consumption and mindless disposal as praiseworthy American traditions. It offers hints on how to increase our pollution for a more blighted future. Mostly dark pastels.

“Madagascar, Journey Diary,” 11 minutes, French. An eclectic mix of animation methods and styles that summarizes the impressions of a traveler from his visit to the African island nation. Creative, arty, bursting with color.

“The Gruffalo,” 27 minutes, British. A mother squirrel tells her kids a fairy tale about a mouse who fools a fox, an owl and a snake into not eating him. He describes a scary monster that dines on fox, owl and snake. Wonderful voice work by Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Wilkinson, John Hurt, Robbie Coltrane and others. A claymation look.

“The Lost Thing,” 15 minutes, Australian. Fanciful tale set in an industrial world of concrete, sheet metal, plumbing and factories. A visitor to the beach discovers a creature that looks like an oversize ginger jar with tentacles. It seems lost, so the beach visitor takes it upon himself to find where it belongs.

Bonus: The Academy has added two more “highly commended” animated shorts to the program as well.

Live-action shorts (unrated, likely R for language, violence, disturbing images):

“The Confession,” 26 minutes, British. Disturbing story of a sensitive young parochial student worried about his first confession. He can’t think of anything to confess. A mischievous friend cooks up a scheme to commit a sin that leads to darker and darker disaster. Beautiful, color-drenched outdoor settings.

“The Crush,” 15 minutes, Irish. A boy about 9 has a crush on his teacher, gives her a ring. Later he learns she’s engaged to another, and he challenges the fiance to a duel to the death. A gun adds a sinister note to the story.

“God of Love,” 18 minutes, American. A lounge singer and darts champ becomes a sort of contemporary cupid in possession of magic darts that cause targets to fall for whomever they see next. The girl he loves is fixated on his best friend, and he finds the darts’ powers have limits. Whimsical, wistful fun. Nice jazzy soundtrack.

“Na Wewe,” 19 minutes, Belgian. A bus in 1994 Burundi is stopped at a roadblock by gunmen seeking to even the score between Tutsis and Hutu. Creative lying and distraction become matters of life and death.

“Wish 143,” 24 minutes, British. A boy with months to live is offered a wish to be granted by a charity, and he chooses losing his virginity. A priest and the charity want him to rethink his wish. Poignant, funny, moving.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1269, bob.fischbach@owh.com