Death Of A Shadow

Soldier Nathan died during World War I. A strange collector imprisoned his shadow and gave him a new chance: a second life against 10000 captured shadows. It is love that guides him, as his purpose is to meet Sarah again, the woman he fell in love with before he died. But then he discovers that she's already in love with someone else, jealousy clouds his mind and pushes him towards a bitter decision, not without consequences.

Peter Howell: Death of a Shadow (Tom Van Avermaet): The closest thing to a star vehicle amongst all the nominated shorts, this features Rust and Bone’s Matthias Schoenaerts as an introverted and existential First World War soldier with a very strange job: photographing the shadows of newly deceased people. Combining sci-fi, fantasy and romance, this tells more in 20 minutes than many features do in two hours, with ace production values a bonus.
My pick for the Oscar: Death of a Shadow.

Steve Pond:
Odd, very stylish and dramatic, "Death of a Shadow" stars a nearly unrecognizable Matthias Schoenaerts ("Rust and Bone," "Bullhead") as a meek, bespectacled World War I soldier who is killed in action but finds a way to strike a deal with Death that may return him to life.

Schoenaerts' character takes shadowy photos of other people's deaths -- and when he completes 10,000 of them, he's returned to the living for an hour to locate a long-lost love, only to be surprised by what he finds. The creepy supernatural tale is one of the boldest, most imaginative and moodiest of the nominees, and that boldness and imagination may give it a real shot at winning.

My take:
Likeliest winners: "Death of a Shadow," "Curfew"
If voters go for the real world: "Asad," "Buzkashi Boys"
If "Amour" creates a bandwagon effect: "Henry"