In recent years Ireland has punched above its weight in the Academy Awards shorts categories (both live action and animated), winning two Oscars in 10 years and receiving nominations for six others. Irish Film New York (IFNY)—an organization that fosters partnerships between Ireland and the US by presenting events and screenings featuring the best of Irish cinema to US audiences—presents a series of four shorts on September 12 – 13. The 2012 Oscar winner The Shore is a wry, humbling tale of reconciliation and making peace in post-ceasefire Northern Ireland, directed by Terry George, and Martin McDonagh's Six Shooter, which won the live action Oscar in 2006, is the director's stylish precursor to In Bruges, bearing all the familiar McDonagh hallmarks of trickery, gore, sparkling dialogue and … a loaded gun. The two nominated films include Nicky Phelan's delightfully macabre animation Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (2008) from Brown Bag Films (who were also nominated in 2002 with Give Up Yer Aul Sins) and Juanita Wilson's heartbreaking tale of life after the Chernobyl disaster, The Door (2009).

IFNY aims to help Irish films and filmmakers find a market in the United States by fostering partnerships between Irish and US-based film institutes. It connects producers and directors and holds many film screenings and Q&A sessions with filmmakers throughout the year. IFNY hosts its annual Irish Film Festival at NYU’s Cantor Film Center over the first weekend in October.