Awesome Short Films

This surreal and imaginative animated fantasy follows the story of an astronaut dog sent into space to investigate a seemingly dead planet. But when she arrives, she has a revealing encounter about her species’ past that could change their future forever. Written, directed, and animated by Jordan Speer.

Art meets science in Vadim Epstein’s trippy digital compositions. Ghosts is an experimental short film that explores complexity emergence from AI feedback loops. It makes use of the StarGAN2 neural network to morph between machine-generated images. Sound by Alexander Kopeikin and Fractal Heads.

It’s August and triple-digit temperatures outside for some of us, so the idea of watching a Christmas-themed short film seems a little premature. But we couldn’t resist sharing this charming holiday animation about a boy with very special powers. Directed by Philippe Tempelman for the a German supermarket chain Netto.

(NSFW) This darkly humorous animated short follows a husband and wife whose relationship takes a turn when one of them starts to question their place in the world. In less than three minutes, it takes on the topics of gender conformity, toxic masculinity, and infidelity. From the Emmy award-winning trio Job, Joris & Marieke.

William Landgren might only be 15 years old, but he’s already an accomplished digital artist. He created this 100% CGI short film about a robot desperate for a drink using Blender, After Effects, Marvelous Designer, and Davinci Resolve. We love the mood he created with the grain and lighting. (Thanks, Rob!)

The 1 is a bespoke electric motorcycle. Built from the ground up – and looking like nothing that’s come before – the visionary design is a revolutionary direction for the legacy Curtiss Motorcycle Company. The short fil The Opposite of Death documents the $83,333+ dream machine’s birth, giving us lots to drool over.

Fernando Livschitz of Black Sheep Films wows us with another amazing short film. The stop-motion clip was made by capturing live breakdance footage, mapping the frames into outlines, laser cutting each from wood, then layering the 800+ pieces to create a motion effect.

This short science fiction film from anime director Akihiko Orikasa follows the story of an astronaut exploring the surface of Mars who stumbles onto the wreckage of a long-lost commercial vessel. While searching the site for survivors, he encounters something unexpected. Will he let his fears get the best of him?

When you feel burnt out, it’s a good plan to take time for yourself. But taking a break sometimes causes everything to come crashing down. Maggie Mae Fish’s relatable short film about living with ADHD explores some of the feelings you might experience when you emerge from your everyday distractions. (Thanks, Rob!)

École de Condé animation students Ninon Ringenbach Trifilieff, Rodolphe Savolle, Paul-Adrien Butty, and Alexis Lainé created this charming short film about a lonely robot who wanders a junkyard in search of the parts to make a friend. They created the project in just two months using 3D animation tools Blender and Maya.

Every trick a skateboarder ever landed required at least some degree of practice and persistence. Director Najeeb Tarazi offers up an “ode to effort” with this experimental short that takes footage of skateboarders failing and composites it with their successes. Filmed by Dennis Ludwig, Ryan Neddeau, and Frankie Eder.

After getting fired from her job, Penny the cat encounters a stranger who offers her a chance to make a lot of money. His proposition is equal parts Fight Club and Squid Game. Victoria “Vewn” Vincent’s off-kilter animated short film explores how a need for cash and acceptance can lead us to some very dark places.

In this gross-out short horror film from writer-director Oskar Lehemaa, a balding man receives an unexpected bottle of hair growth formula on his doorstep, and he decides to try it. Only the serum has unintended consequences after the hair starts to sprout and wreaks havoc on Leo and his world.

After being adopted from a shelter, an innocent rescue dog discovers that its new home is haunted by the ghosts of the family’s prior pets. Joe Cappa’s weird and creepy animated short film has moments of humor but is definitely more horror than comedy. We also love the tagline “Are You Afraid of the Bark?”

Barcelona design studio Six N. Five takes us on a journey through time and space represented as a circle moving through various locations. Director Ezequiel Pini says “We are a circle, without boundaries, beginning or end. Infinity, Unity, connection, just a circle in expansion.” Part of the Moco Museum collection.

Independent filmmaker Danny Donahue set out to make a movie about time travel and dinosaurs. Despite having virtually no budget, he created an impactful short film that relies heavily on sound effects to build dramatic tension. Even more impressive is that Danny did the CGI himself with no prior knowledge of the tech. (Thanks, Rob!)

(PG-13: Language) In this tense short film by Andrew David Barker and Ashley Price, a man receives a harassing phone call from a debt collection agency and refuses to meet their demands. But there’s more to the circumstances surrounding the intimidating call than just the small amount of money he owes.

(PG-13: Language) We’re sure our actor friends can relate to this short film about a man who takes a rather unglamourous gig for a chance at a good part. Liam Harkins stars as Malky, the actor who knows he can do so much more in this understated comedy by writer-director Tom Nicoll.

Remember the Fizzy Lifting Drinks scene from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? Well, if this comedy sketch from Rick Darge and John Weselcouch is to be believed, you can achieve the same basic effect by just drinking way too much LaCroix sparkling water.

Filmmaker Thomas Blanchard created this captivating music video for the electronic track Bellatrix by Sébastien Guérive. He created the monochrome imagery by saturating hot water with chemicals that spontaneously crystallize when cooled. Go full screen, dim the lights, and crank up your headphones to 11 for this one.

Visual artist Darren “Darius Twin” Pearson is known for his long-exposure light paintings. He has a particular fondness for skeletons. For the short film Fiat Lux, he captured more than 680 hand-painted scenes, then assembled them into an animation. Each of the 11 scenes is also available as an NFT.

When a scrap dealer is about to crush two old gondola cars, he realizes that there might be more to their story than just some inanimate hunks of metal and glass. This sweet and charming animated short was created by French animation collective MegaComputeur.

Despite an intentionally low frame rate, the animation in Olivier Lescot’s short film The Rift is impeccable, producing a great sense of movement through the use of motion blur and other visual techniques. Strap in for a brief but action-packed ride as a man finds himself chased into the night by a mysterious and heavily-armed crew.

Do you need a better way to eat your spaghetti? How about a new way to dust your house? This off-kilter short film by Jared Lapidus pokes fun at those commercials for superfluous products and the people who need them. And then things really weird… and really dark.

(PG-13: Language) Amber Schaefer and Yoni Lotan’s exceptional short film paints a realistic portrait of an aspiring travel and lifestyle influencer and how reality threatens to interfere with his bubbly on-screen persona and undying dedication to his followers.

What would happen if three of the greatest adventurers came face-to-face in search of the same treasure? Devin Supertramp and crew headed to Uzbekistan to find out. This short action film stars stunt actors Braxton McAllister, Michaela McAllister, and Corbett McAllister as the heroes of Uncharted, Tomb Raider, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.