Things to Do

See Oscar-Nominated Films for Free at the National Archives

Get a leg up on your office pool February 18 through 22.

Image via Shutterstock.

You’ve got exactly a month to catch up on all the films nominated for the 87th Academy Awards, which will be presented February 22. But movie tickets are expensive! Luckily, as has become a Washington tradition, the National Archives is making it easy on your wallet/office Oscars pool by presented free screenings of some of the nominated titles.

For the 11th year in a row, you can catch all the contenders in four categories—documentary feature, documentary short, live-action short, and animated short—in the William G. McGowan Theater during the week leading up to the Oscars. Things kick off on February 18 with Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester’s documentary Last Days in Vietnam at 7, with a different feature-length documentary every evening and the shorts screening as groups in the daytime. Making things even more convenient this year, you can reserve seats ahead of time by visiting the website or calling 202-357-6814; doors open 45 minutes before the scheduled start time, and walk-ins will be admitted 15 minutes before depending on space. Screenings run through February 22 at 6 PM, just in time for visitors to get home in time for the Oscars.

See the full schedule of screenings below.

Documentary Feature Nominees

Wednesday, February 18, 7 PM
Last Days in Vietnam
Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester
(98 minutes; unrated)

Thursday, February 19, 7 PM
CitizenFour
Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky
(114 minutes; rated R)

Friday, February 20, 7 PM
The Salt of the Earth
Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier
(110 minutes; rated PG-13)

Saturday, February 21, 7 PM
Virunga
Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
(90 minutes; unrated)

Sunday, February 22, 4 PM
Finding Vivian Maier
John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
(83 minutes; unrated)

Live-Action Short Film Nominees

Saturday, February 21, noon

Aya
Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
(40 minutes; unrated)

Boogaloo and Graham
Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
(14 minutes; unrated)

Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak)
Hu Wei and Julien Féret
(15 minutes; unrated)

Parvaneh
Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
(25 minutes; unrated)

The Phone Call
Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
(20 minutes; unrated)

Total Running time: 114 minutes.

Animated Short Film Nominees

Saturday, February 21, 3:30 PM

The Bigger Picture
Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
(8 minutes; unrated)

The Dam Keeper
Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
(18 minutes; unrated)

Feast
Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
(6 minutes; unrated)

Me and My Moulton
Torill Kove
(14 minutes; unrated)

A Single Life
Joris Oprins
(3 minutes; unrated)

Total Running Time: 49 minutes.

Documentary Short Subject Nominees

Sunday, February 22, 11 AM

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
(47 minutes; unrated)

Joanna
Aneta Kopacz
(45 minutes; unrated)

Our Curse
Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki
(28 minutes; unrated)

The Reaper (La Parka)
Gabriel Serra Arguello
(29 minutes; unrated)

White Earth
J. Christian Jensen
(20 minutes; unrated)