‘UNDER THE HEAVENS’
One hundred forty-five films qualified in the Live Action Short Film category for the 94th Academy Awards, and Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation, Directors, Producers and Writers Branches voted to determine that Thesis student Gustavo Milan’s Under the Heavens will advance.
Now one of only 15 remaining nominations, Under the Heavens (Milan’s second year film) centers on a lone woman as she tries to navigate the perils that can befall refugees.The fictional drama, shot by alum Lasse Ulvedal Tolboll, addresses both the larger humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and, on a smaller scale, the conflicts that arise “between people from the same community, fleeing the same problems.”
Under the Heavens became Oscar-eligible when it won the International Competition Best Short Award at Short Shorts & Asia 2021. Since then, it has gone on to receive considerable recognition, securing Milan the Student DGA Award for Best Latino Student Filmmaker.
In a feature for The New Yorker, Milan explained the core of his short: “Even as places of struggle create community,” Milan said, alluding to the bond between Marta and the couple, and similar bonds made between refugees, “they also serve as a venue for increased violence, where people go to extremes when they have nothing. Gender-based violence is almost always a sub-crisis in the midst of broader humanitarian crises.”
The 94th Oscar nominations will be announced February 8, 2022.
View all the shortlists here.