After opening up his presentation for the best live-action short film at the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday with a few jokes — including a quip that the film “One Battle After Another” could have been a short film itself with just “One Battle” — presenter Kumail Nanjiani left the audience stunned when he announced a tie for best live-action short film.
“It’s a tie. I’m not joking,” Nanjiani said. “It’s actually a tie. So everyone calm down. We’re gonna get through this. Focus up.”
Nanjiani announced the first winner, allowed them to accept their award, and then announced the second. The awards went to “The Singers,” by Sam A. Davis and Jack Piatt, and “Two People Exchanging Saliva,” by Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata.
“Ironically, the award for short film will take twice as long,” Nanjiani joked.
Host Conan O’Brien added: “I just want to say congratulations to both winners — you just ruined 22 million Oscar pools.”
How rare is an Academy Award tie?
Ties are quite rare in the Academy Awards’ nearly 100-year history. There have only ever been a handful of instances where two winners shared a category, according to the Academy Award database.
The first occurred in 1932 at the fifth ever Oscars, when the category for best actor was deemed a tie between Fredric March and Wallace Beery.
While March technically received one more vote than Beery, rules at the time dictated that any performance within three votes of the winner resulted in a tie. The Academy has since changed the rules to require an exact match in votes for a tie to be acknowledged.
Ties in Academy Award history:
- 1949: Best documentary short subject between “A Chance to Live” and “So Much for So Little.”
- 1968: Best actress between Katharine Hepburn (“The Lion in Winter”) and Barbra Streisand (“Funny Girl”).
- 1986: Best documentary feature where both “Artie Shaw: Time is All You’ve Got” and “Down and Out in America” took home the award.
- 1995: Best live-action short film tied between “Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Trevor.”
- 2012: Best sound editing came down to the two winners, “Skyfall” and “Zero Dark Thirty.”