Awesome Short Films

“Killing two birds with one stone is actually harder than murdering them one after another.” Grant Kolton’s snarky animated short pokes fun at common English idioms like “You can’t judge a book by its cover” and reminds us that they’re not all to be taken as gospel.

Joe Sill’s animated science fiction short envisions a future where a corporation runs a massive network of autonomous vehicles, and those who drive themselves are hunted down as criminals. The proof-of-concept thriller follows a gang of motorcycle couriers who must deliver a mysterious package.

Filmmaker Natalia Mirzoyan’s animated short depicts a brief moment in time at the beach, where people of all ages come to enjoy the sunshine and saltwater. While painting an evocative portrait, the film explores the different ways that people perceive time throughout their lives.

Using narration based on an actual Craigslist “Missed Connections” ad, animator Patrick Dias imagines what actually happened when a man dropped his prosthetic arm while running to catch a train. The captivating voice acting by Tiana Asperjan helps bring depth to the story. We’d love to see a whole series of these.

In this silly and slightly demented animated short from Super Dope, a little girl gets way more than she bargained for when she orders a strawberry cone from her neighborhood ice cream truck. Everything seems to be going wrong in 2020. Does dessert have to get ruined too?

Director James Molle and students from Gobelins animation school take us along for a boy’s journey of discovery, as he struggles with worry and seeks answers from a world occupied by strange, anthropomorphic characters. The low-res pixel animation style and lack of speech compliment the mystique of the short film.

In this silly animated short, a man tries out one of those capsule toys that expands when you add water to it, and gets way more than he bargains for. At least he has a new friend for a little while. Directed and animated by Emma Ehrling for Animade .

This silly animated short pokes fun at a sci-fi trope, as a floating vessel is stopped by the authorities and asked to provide their information. Its creators Karl Poyzer and Joe Roberts did a great job making us laugh with their minimal approach to movement and focus on cheeky dialogue.

A man struggles to get his underwear to dry, but an unexpected rain shower pops up every time he hangs them outside. Why does it rain every time he tries to get his laundry done? Writer/Director Cliona Noonan’s animated short film blends a quirky style and a charming story.

PoChien Chen’s animated short film uses a lighthearted style to paint a devastating picture, as a chef serves up a variety of deadly dishes to his animal customers while his human patrons destroy their habitat and gorge on sushi, oblivious to the harm they’re doing to the planet.

Writer/Director/Choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall’s wonderfully creative short film does a great job capturing the feeling you get when you’re stuck in traffic in a New York City taxi cab, and start to think it might be faster to get out and walk… or dance to your destination.

While stuck home during the pandemic, it’s more important than ever to try and vary your days and mix things. up. In Jan Riesenbeck and Dennis Stein-Schomburg’s strange short film, a man explores the importance of breaking out of routines, while his floating head transforms into some of the many thoughts he expresses.

Filmmaker Yiannis Biliris and Visual Suspect offer a trippy new perspective on the world. By digitally manipulating footage of automotive traffic into complex repeating patterns, they visualize “the arteries and veins” of an imagined mega-metropolis.

Sander Joon’s cacophonous animated short film is best experienced with headphones or nice loud speakers. As its vignettes play out, each object on screen makes a familiar, but very different sound than you’d expect it to make. It turns out that mushrooms are especially noisy little dudes.

(PG-13: Language) Writer/Director Graham Parkes’ comedic short film follows a man struggling with self-doubt, and a mysterious persona that continues to beat him down at every turn. But is this guy a figment of his imagination, or can everyone hear the stuff he’s saying?

Richard Noble’s superbly executed short film tells the story of a fictitious tycoon who hopes to build a theme park bearing his name, but whose obsessive nature, pride, and constant changes to the park’s design becomes his downfall. The title character clearly draws inspiration from Walt Disney and Howard Hughes.