I discovered shorts a few years back. Someone I follow tweeted a link to a video with a cover picture full of stars. How could I resist? Curious, I clicked and thus begin my love story with short films.
I’ve heard of “shorts” before but it never really piqued my interest. I almost felt a pretty intense resistance towards them. I don’t know why. Maybe I was so used to the idea of a “film” being at least one hour and a half long to be good. Boy, was I wrong. After my first short, I was engrossed. It was like a whole new world I didn’t know existed suddenly opened up. There was so much potential and possibilities in what these people are making. It was inspiring — all that creativity and resourcefulness. And I wish more people knew about it.
There was a period in the last few years where shorts became my go-to entertainment. I usually relied on a movie or a novel to relax after a long exhausting day but I couldn’t finish them soon enough. So I’d either stay up late (which is never good for the next day) or skip it altogether. Enter the short films. They are perfect for days like these. They are almost never more than 25 minutes long and the good ones are always entertaining and thought provoking. As they say, “ brevity and simplicity is the sign of real genius.”
I now have a tremendous respect for people who make these shorts. If you are one of them, I bow to you. Thank you for your craft and please continue to bless us with your brilliance.
I probably have not even scratched the surface of all the great shorts out there. But in the last few years, I’ve created a list of some of my favorites that I’d like to share with you (in no particular order). There are a LOT of really good ones but when I think of “high impact” ones, I always go back to these. If you’re new to shorts, I think you would either love or hate these. I do hope it triggers something in you and maybe, like me, you’ll watch more of this underrated section of the film industry.
If you’ve been watching shorts, please share your favorites. There are so many out there it’s sometimes difficult to wade through all of it so if you have a recommendation, I’d love to watch it!
- La Luna — This was the short that started it all for me. Yes, that picture full of stars led me to this. It’s animated. It’s sweet. It’s adorable. It made me happy and nostalgic. Probably contributed a lot to why I continued watching short films.
2. Next Floor —After I watched this film, I was dazed. It made me think. It stayed with me for a while … and random days, I would remember it. If you want memorable, you’ll probably like this.
3. Long Branch—This was interesting and I admired how it captured this generation. It’s a cute film that shows some of the struggle of being young. It makes fun of our ideas about love, sex and just life, in general.
4. The Crush —This is one of the more recent shorts I’ve seen, and I randomly clicked on it in YouTube. Some may find this controversial but it is definitely entertaining. It puts you at the edge of your seat the whole time. If I read correctly, it won some awards and not sure yet what that tells me!
5. Listen— We saw this film at the Wadsworth Museum in Hartford on 2015. It was one of the eight featured films in the Manhattan Short Film Festival. Every single one of those 8 deserves to be in this list, but I chose this (and the next one) because I think it opens our eyes to a whole different world most people try to shut out. (I can’t find a site where watching this is free, but I think paying that extra is worth it!)
6. Bis Gleich — This was also from the Manhattan Short and it won the Grand Prize. Watch it and you’ll see why. It’s lovely and sweet and will make you sigh. (Did I just rhyme? Oh, if you have Amazon Prime, you can watch it for free!)
7. La Migala —Just like Next Floor, this is probably one of the more memorable shorts I’ve seen. I loved the twist they gave to the concept of fear. It was creative, smart and in a really weird way… very relatable.
8. He Took His Skin Off for me — When I first saw this, I wasn’t sure what to think. Did I like it? Did I not? They had a very distracting but effective concept. I was definitely intrigued and decided to watch it again. Second time’s the charm for me. If someone asked me if they can only watch 3 shorts, what would it be? This will be one of them.
What did you think? Any other suggestions?
**For two years now, we’ve watched the Manhattan Short Film Festival which usually takes place mid Sept to October. I would totally recommend going if you haven’t been and especially if you enjoyed these. Here’s a link. Hopefully there is a screening near you. If not, maybe you can request for one!
