A pair of short films featured at last year’s Bermuda International Film Festival have now secured Oscar nominations.

Watu Wote/All of Us and My Nephew Emmett competed in BIFF’s Bermuda Shorts Competition last year, with Watu Wote taking the top prize.

Both films are now among the nominees for the Live-Action Short Film Oscar.

Watu Wote, directed by Katja Benrath and produced by Tobias Rosen, depicts the impact of the decade-long series of attacks by the Al-Shabaab extremists in Kenya.

In the midst of anxiety and mistrust between Muslims and Christians, the film focuses on a group of Muslim bus passengers who protect a Christian woman.

My Nephew Emmett, directed by Kevin Wilson Jr, was inspired by the true story of a preacher struggling to protect his nephew against racist killers in Jim Crow-era Mississippi.

A BIFF spokesman said: “Watu Wote has gone on to win awards at more than 40 prestigious film festivals around the world, including the Gold Student Academy Award.

“This year, Katja Benrath is the only female director in the Live-Action Short Film category for the Academy Awards.

“My Nephew Emmett also won a Gold Medal at the Student Academy Awards in the Narrative Domestic Category.”

BIFF organisers have received 621 submissions for its short film competition this year, with the winning film becoming eligible for an Oscar nomination.

Meanwhile, eight films have been submitted for the festival’s second BerMovie day, an event highlighting films by Bermudians or featuring Bermuda.

“Pre-screeners have had a huge task to choose their top 46 short films which will be on offer for the public to see from March 17 to 24,” a spokesman said, adding that this year’s films will highlight women in film.