Haven't had a chance to watch the Oscar-nominated documentary shorts? All Things Considered is here to help. In the week leading up to the Academy Awards, NPR's Audie Cornish talked with the directors of the five short films nominated for best documentary short.
The films tell a range of stories — about a preventable disease that's ravaging Africa and the quiet loneliness of Florida retirees, the vibrant art of a homeless teenager and the hard life of "canners," and finally a salon that helps women with cancer cope with their scars.
'Mondays At Racine': For Cancer Patients, A Salon Treatment
One Monday each month, sisters Cynthia and Rachel open the doors to their hair salon, free, to cancer patients. As filmmaker Cynthia Wade documents, the time at the salon spent with hats and wigs does more than address hair loss; it helps women cope with the physical and emotional scars of cancer. (All Things Considered audio and transcript, Feb. 22, 2013)