''Skin'' is a 2018 American short drama film, directed by Israeli-born filmmaker

Guy Nattiv Guy Nattiv (born May 24, 1973) is an Israeli film director, screenwriter and producer who lives and works in the United States. His film ''Skin'' won an Oscar for best short film at the 91st Academy Awards. As of May 2021, Nattiv and Moshe Mi ...

. Co written with Sharon Maymon, the film won the

Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film The Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film is an award presented at the annual Academy Awards ceremony. The award has existed, under various names, since 1957. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate awards, "Best Short Subject, One- ...

at the

91st Academy Awards The 91st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2018 and took place on February 24, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the ceremony, AM ...

, marking distributor

Fox Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century Stu ...

' first win in the category. Nattiv's full-length feature ''

Skin Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different ...

'', also released in 2018, is not related to this film in terms of their narratives.

Plot

A white family goes to a lake with friends. Their tattoos imply the group are

Neo-Nazis Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...

. Jeffrey (

Jonathan Tucker Jonathan Moss Tucker (born May 31, 1982) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films ''The Virgin Suicides'' (1999), '' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' (2003), ''Hostage'' (2005), '' In the Valley of Elah'' (2007), '' The Ruins'' ( ...

) brags that his son, Troy (

Jackson Robert Scott Jackson Robert Scott (born September 18, 2008) is an American child actor known for playing Bode Locke in the Netflix series '' Locke & Key'' (2020–2022) and Georgie Denbrough in the films '' It Chapter One'' (2017) and ''It Chapter Two'' (201 ...

) can shoot a target with a rifle and takes bets on the challenge. Troy successfully shoots the target. The group heads to a grocery store, where Christa ( Danielle Macdonald) shops for food. In the checkout line, Troy sees an African-American man, Jaydee (

Ashley Thomas Ashley Thomas is a fictional character from the British soap opera ''Emmerdale'', played by John Middleton. He made his first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 5 December 1996. It was announced on 22 October 2015 that Middlet ...

), holding a toy. Troy and the man smile at each other. As Jaydee is checking out, Jeffrey notices the interaction and accuses Jaydee of messing with his boy. Jaydee denies it and Jeffrey calls him a racial slur. Jaydee leaves, telling Jeffrey that he is the problem. Jeffrey tells his friends about the dispute and they follow Jaydee into the parking lot. Jeffrey and his friends beat Jaydee viciously while Jaydee's wife calls the police from her car nearby. Troy watches the incident from the store as Christa frets. As the group leaves, Jaydee's wife holds him in the parking lot. Troy looks out the car window and makes eye contact with Jaydee's son, Bronny (

Lonnie Chavis Lonnie Chavis, Jr. (born November 23, 2007) is an American actor and activist. He is known for playing young Randall Pearson on NBC's drama, ''This Is Us''. Chavis has been nominated for several awards and shared the win for the Screen Actors Guil ...

), who is nearly the same age. The next evening, Jeffrey and Troy are driving home and find a van blocking the road. Jeffrey walks up to the van and a group of black men abduct him. Jeffrey is taken to the garage of a home, where several black men and Bronny drug and tattoo him over several days. Jaydee is there recovering. Some time later, Jeffrey is thrown naked onto the same road he was abducted from. He sees his reflection in a window and finds his skin tattooed completely black. Inside their home, Christa wakes up to the sound of someone outside. She loads a handgun and calls for help. Jeffrey attempts to wash his skin clean with water but fails. Christa orders Troy to hide under the bed and not come out. Jeffrey forcefully enters the home. Christa, seeing what appears to be a naked, black man in her home, warns him to get out or she will shoot him. Jeffrey manages to communicate to Christa who he is, and she drops her weapon. A shot rings out, and Jeffrey collapses. Troy stands in the doorway behind Jeffrey holding a rifle.

Cast

References

External links

* * {{Academy Award Best Short 2018 films 2018 drama films 2018 short films Films about racism Live Action Short Film Academy Award winners Fox Searchlight Pictures films American drama short films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films