Duplass Brothers Board Jan Naszewski’s Oscar-Qualifying Short ‘Exam

Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass, and Mel Eslyn have boarded Jan Naszewski’s Polish short Exam (Egzamin) as executive producers, attaching their Duplass Brothers banner muscle to a film already Oscar-qualified.

The 16-minute live-action entry cleared Academy eligibility through a seven-day paid theatrical run in Los Angeles County, positioning it inside the short-film consideration corridor.

Duplass Brothers Lend Indie Cred to a Tightly Wound Two-Hander

Naszewski directs and co-writes alongside Agnieszka Matan, building the narrative around Gosia and Jurek, a couple one year into therapy.

The premise forces the pair to perform as a model couple during their therapist’s professional examination before an international committee, with an interpreter and buried resentments tightening the screws.

That chamber-piece construction aligns squarely with the Duplass Brothers’ long-standing appetite for intimate, performance-driven storytelling, a lineage that has defined their indie output and now extends to a European short with awards ambitions.

The executive producer credit gives the project a recognizable American name above the title as it moves through festival and awards circuits, monitored across our trade entertainment wire desk.

Los Angeles Run Converts Into Academy Eligibility

The film’s Oscar-qualifying status stems from a seven-day paid theatrical engagement in Los Angeles County, the standard mechanism that unlocks short-film consideration.

Qualification is a campaign milestone, not a nomination, but it places Exam in the eligibility pool alongside a crowded international short field.

Katarzyna Kuczynska, Jules Grange, Martin Jerome, and Naszewski produce, with HAKA Films and New Europe Production backing the shoot and French company KIDAM also involved.

Naszewski, who founded New Europe Film Sales and steered international sales on titles including Corpus Christi and Rams, now sits on both sides of the desk, a seller’s instinct applied to his own directing work.

Sales Muscle and Awards Positioning Drive the Campaign

New Europe Film Sales handles international rights, and the official synopsis pitches the film on its sharpest hook: “A pair of sensitive thirty-somethings are asked to be a model couple during their therapist’s exam session.”

That logline is a calculated piece of positioning, wry, specific, and built to travel through festival program notes and buyer decks rather than a conventional marketing blitz.

For a short with no franchise scaffolding, the executive producer credit and the Oscar-qualifying run function as the two levers that generate visibility, contrasting with broader commercial genre plays that rely on star scale and wide release footprints.

The economics here run on festival fees, sales advances, and awards buzz rather than box-office grosses, a lean burn rate where a single qualifying run can outweigh a full marketing spend.

With the Duplass name now attached and eligibility secured, Exam enters the short-film conversation with the two assets that matter most: recognition and a ticket to the table.

Reviewed by

Chief Reviewer

Ankit Jaiswal

Editorial Director - 7+ yrs

Ankit Jaiswal is the Chief Author, covering Indian cinema and OTT releases with honest, no-filler criticism. An SEO strategist by background, he brings a research-driven approach to film writing, cutting through hype to tell you exactly what's worth your time.