The New Yorker’s Oscar nomination

The conference room at One World Trade Center, located above a New York plaza dotted with respectful tourists, has few distinctive features. A large screen, a no-frills table, numerous charging sockets: the antiseptic business of a modern meeting space.

Yet it is here that the future of documentary is often mapped out – and perhaps saved. This is where Paul Moakley and Sarah Lash deliberate over the dozens of short films they will release among the hundreds they screen each year. He is The New Yorkerthe executive producer of ; she is vice president of acquisitions at parent company Condé Nast. But those titles only indicate their influence, which involves determining which documentaries are made, purchased and ultimately posted online for the magazine’s readers and one million YouTube subscribers.

“A lot of our future is about movement and visual storytelling — people seeing before they read,” Moakley said during a meeting with Lash in this conference room one afternoon this fall. “I often make sure to remind the editors of this,” said the producer, who previously worked at Timeadds ironically.

While many old-school publications have talked about adopting (and, sometimes, have since abandoned) the so-called pivot to video, The New Yorker continue to live it. It may seem hard to believe that Joseph Mitchell and Dorothy Parker’s magazine rivals the latest Internet trends here. And yet, this effort is also part of its intellectual and contemporary history. If these two men existed now, we could imagine them preparing the latest documentary short to go viral.

David Remnick, editor-in-chief of The New Yorkersays the shorts fit perfectly with the magazine’s story and brand. “The same readers who eagerly await Patrick Radden Keefe’s next investigation also enjoy a brilliantly crafted documentary film,” he wrote in an email. “Readers and viewers come The New Yorker for beautiful storytelling, whatever the form.

Films can be inspiring and serious, such as Seat 31about Montana trans activist and state representative Zooey Zephyr. They can also be full of surprises, like Public Defendera short film released this fall about a progressive lawyer who defends an alleged January 6 perpetrator and humanizes both sides, or Eternal Fatherabout an older British father planning to be cryonically frozen. “What Paul and I come back to again and again is: ‘What is a truly new take on something that is part of the vernacular?’ says Lash, a veteran of independent cinema.

As Seat 31, Eternal Father was shortlisted for the Oscar for documentary short film. If he wins, it will help the publication make history.

The New Yorker has had a torrid run in the category, nominated in six of the last nine years (and landing 15 short docs during its brief competitive history; that’s a Netflix-level influence). But he never won, and a victory would attach a link of prestige to his efforts. (Learn more about the shortlisted films below.)

It would seem that long-form visual storytelling is safe in the age of TikTok. And it sure is thanks to an august media brand that rose to prominence years before anyone had heard of ByteDance.

In fact, Lash says that longer films (they can last up to 40 minutes) tend to attract more viewers.

“When I started at Condé Nast 10 years ago, the mandate was that we couldn’t make a video longer than six minutes. Then it became 15. It kept growing because people want to be immersed in a good story.

For any text journalist wondering how the magazine achieves this economically – the pivot to video has often been blocked by the pivot to higher production costs – both men say they are partly subsidized by revenue advertisers on YouTube. The advantage, admittedly more vague, of films which broaden the brand of The New Yorker and, ultimately, possibly increase subscriptions.

“This young demographic of 18 to 34 years old is looking for video first,” says Lash. “We hope these films will make them more curious about the magazine. In an ideal world, someone would love a documentary and then subscribe to The New Yorker.” Condé’s pockets can also help; The entry of Netflix has made the prices of short documentaries cheaper than before.

The magazine also has other ways to monetize films, such as developing them for Condé Nast’s film and television division, headed by Hollywood producer Helen Estabrook. (A narrative feature currently in post was developed from a New Yorkers brief doc.)

The majority of films are acquired completed, either spotted at a festival or chosen from a pool of applications, although the magazine occasionally reviews projects in development.

Remnick believes that these shorts, far from being a fashionable add-on, provide indications of what publishing will look like in the years to come. “The ability to tell stories in cinematic form is, I hope, an essential part of The New Yorker the future,” he wrote. “This creates an on-ramp for a new generation of readers, who can first build a relationship with us by finding a documentary on YouTube or a short clip on TikTok.”

The division is the product of one happy trend and two unhappy trends. With cameras and footage so abundant, it’s easier than ever to make a short documentary, which means more quality films than any one distributor could handle. On the other hand, The New Yorker steps into a void left by a Hollywood less willing to develop original voices and big streamers reluctant to take on even mild political risks.

To encourage people to watch it, the magazine often uses its social networks. Instagram — where The New Yorker has almost 9 million followers – is a key driver, with one reel often helping a film go viral. In a new promotional strategy, a director will spend time in the comments section of YouTube for a few days after a new film is released, creating a sort of slow-motion Q&A that stays (for the most part) on track. Pairing a movie with relevant text can also boost engagement – ​​a benefit Netflix doesn’t enjoy.

Moakley and Lash admit that no one has really figured out the secret to converting text audiences to video. “It’s a changing landscape and we’re all struggling to figure out how to move the pieces of the failure and make the business work,” says Moakley.

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Here are the three documentary shorts preselected by the magazine for the 2025 Oscars. (A fourth short, I Am Not a Robot, was selected in the live-action narrative category.)

Eternal Father

Ömer Sami pointed a camera at a cable technician in the north of England and let the poignant message slip through. The UCLA-educated, Denmark-based director followed Nasar, a 59-year-old who married late in life and now worries he’s missing out on too many highlights in his school-age children’s lives. The best moments come when the children sit and talk with cherubic spirit about what it would mean to see their father again decades after his death.

Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr

Zephyr is a trans activist and state legislator in Montana. Kimberly Reed’s 15-minute burst — like an inspiring EpiPen — opens with Zephyr on the Montana House floor telling lawmakers voting against trans medical care: “I hope…when you bow your head in prayer, you see the blood on your hands. Zephyr is eventually censored, leading to her working from a seat next to the House snack bar. By turns infuriating and heartwarming, the film reaches a climax when a young trans person visits Zephyr and can’t hold back a tear. “Lift your head,” Zephyr said, grabbing their hands. “Don’t let them take this away, okay?”

Incident

Director Bill Morrison has made a career out of clever deployment of stock footage. In Incidentthe murder of a barber by a police officer in Chicago in 2018 is receiving a quietly heated treatment. Harith “Snoop” Augustus can be seen on surveillance footage not threatening a police officer when the officer kills him – then his partner reassures him that he has done nothing wrong as Augustus’ body is neglected. Morrison tells the story through these images, often from a distance, so that it plays like a Michael Haneke documentary. It also divides the screen into quadrants, Timecode-style, by achieving the improbable – by creating a film that is as ambitious as it is socially relevant.

This story first appeared in a January standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.