Oscar shorts will screen around the U.S.

While most of us have had the opportunity to see this year's Oscar nominees for Best Picture, I bet very few of us have been able to catch any of the short films nominated for Academy Awards. I bet most of us can't even name any of the nominated shorts ... well, I can't, sadly. I'm not proud of this. Fortunately, if you live in a larger city, your luck may change.

A collection of the Oscar-nominated animated and live-action shorts will screen in weeklong runs starting Feb. 24. The locations selected to show the films include the usual suspects, like Los Angeles and New York, but also some smaller film-loving cities like Austin (yay!) and Portland, Oregon. I'm looking forward to the animated shorts, such as 9 (shown above), directed by Shane Acker. The live-action nominees look interesting too. The great thing about short films is that even if you don't particularly like one, it's over in 20 minutes or even less. Plus, seeing these films provides an excellent chance to get ahead in the office Oscar pool, by having seen something others might have missed.