How “The Dress” Went from a Short College Film to an Oscar Nominee

Writer/director Tadeusz Lysiak didn’t plan on being nominated for a Best Short Film Live Action Academy Award when he started developing the script for The Dress while attending Warsaw Film School. The indie film is rife with emotion and puts an authentic lens on loneliness and sexuality through the eyes of Julka (Anna Dzieduszycka), a hotel maid short in stature with a very large desire to find love.

The story allegorically mixes isolation and intimacy through a protagonist normally not seen as a sexual object.