It starts out like any other night in a neighborhood dive bar. Some men have come in to swap stories, others to disappear into their drinks. But when a spur-of-the-moment singing competition breaks out, it leads to an unexpectedly moving convergence of voices. That’s the turn at the heart of The Singers, Sam Davis’s Academy Award–nominated short film, premiering on Feb. 13.

Based on the 1850 Ivan Turgenev story of the same name, Davis’s film transforms a piece of classic literature into a modern American barroom fable. But the spark of inspiration that led Davis to adapt the tale was just as unexpected as a spirited singing contest breaking out among barflies on a cold night. 

Davis, who previously produced, shot, and edited the Academy Award–winning short Period. End of Sentence., first encountered Turgenev’s story as part of George Saunders’s masterclass compendium A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, but it wasn’t until he scrolled upon a viral video of New York City subway busker Mike Young belting out the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody” to an indifferent crowd that the idea for his film truly clicked into focus. 

“That was the kismet moment in which a nearly 200-year-old short story and a viral video collided into one crystal clear vision: a modern take on ‘The Singers’ featuring an oddball cast of unknown or underappreciated talents discovered on social media — geniuses in the rough, hiding in plain sight in a lowly dive,” Davis says. 

Read on for everything to know about The Singers and watch the trailer below ahead of its Feb. 13 premiere.

Who’s in the cast?

Davis spent a year combing social media and the internet for unsung talent to fill out his ensemble. He built the cast around Young, who makes his acting debut in the film. From there, he added Australia’s The Voice winner Judah Kelly; New Orleans French Quarter busker and pianist Will Harrington; Oklahoma-based operatic tenor and voice coach Matthew Corcoran; and revered folk-blues legend Chris Smither. Around these five, Davis and casting director Natalie Lin assembled a vivid group of non-singing bar regulars: Afghanistan war veteran Daniel “Hutch” Hutchinson; Arkansas townie David Scott “Muffin” McMurry; viral Salvadoran tire-shop dancers Tío Rigo (Luis Rigoberto Amaya) and Mr. George (Jorge Antonio Linares); and a roster of locals street cast from dive bars across greater Los Angeles.

“For the next four days we hunkered down with a small team, a 35mm film camera, and an outline based on a 175-year-old text, clumsily improvising, sculpting, drawing from real lived experience (of which this cast had plenty), and forming a little oddball family,” Davis says. “But like the cigarette smoke that filled the room, there was an undeniable magic in the air, a shared feeling that we were up to something special.”

When is the release date?

The Singers premieres on Feb. 13. 

Has The Singers been nominated for or won any awards?

Yes. On Jan. 22, The Singers was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. The film won 35 awards across 50 film festivals in 2025 before receiving its Academy Award nomination.