Awesome Short Films

Directors Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas of TAIKO Studios present a heartfelt and beautifully animated short film about the trials and tribulations of a girl who hopes to grow up one day to become an astronaut.

“Imagine a world with no language, only feeling. Who then would be the most different?” Dan Mace collaborated with 100 filmmakers, each from a different country, to make this beautiful short film about connecting to each other.

Audio-visual artist Conner Griffith presents a triptastic experimental short film which bends time and space much in the way that a Christopher Nolan film might. We kept expecting the little twins from The Shining to turn up in that long hallway.

Great Big Story’s short profile of master blacksmith Yasuhiro Hirakawa, “the only traditional scissor maker left in Japan.” It takes him one week – working 10 hours a day – to make his bonsai scissors, which can sell for as much as $32,000.

While fillmakers Robin Pogorzelski and Simon Bourrat were in Nepal working on the documentary Everest Green, they shot this short film, which is packed with beautifully lit and composed vignettes, each of which could be a still photograph hanging on a gallery wall.

(PG-13: Language) A woman finds herself stuck at a red light that never seems to want to change in this surprisingly tense and emotive short by writer/director/editor Sam Benenati. It’s a fantastic example of how less can sometimes be more in filmmaking.

Have you ever had the urge to touch a fire, just to see how it would feel? How about slapping the heck out of a noisy commuter? Film student Anna Mantzaris gives life to those and more sociopathic urges in this darkly comic animated short. Bill Burr would love this.

(PG-13: Language) Erik works at a bakery during the nighttime. What little time he spends with his family are awkward, if they notice him at all. His only source of joy is a late-night radio joke show. Kristian Håskjold’s short film is a heartbreaking look at depression.

A comic book superhero springs to life from the flat pages of his book when he sees a damsel in distress (and popping out of dis dress) in this lighthearted, wonderfully-animated stop-motion short film by director Victor Haegelin.

(PG-13: Language) In Sebastian Egert’s sci-fi/comedy short, a man attempts to order a pizza that goes outside of the boundaries of the actuarially-predetermined corporate constructs of the future. The most disturbing thing about his dystopian world? Mayonnaise on a pizza.

Nathan Barnatt is best known for his goofy characters, dance moves, and commercials. Now he’s completed a 22-minute labor of love about the tenuous relationship between a bail bondsman and a criminal. If it looks familiar, that’s because it expands on this music video.

Star Wars fan Brendan H. Banks and his friends created this well-paced short film about an Imperial scout trooper who finds himself lost on a forest planet where he ends up making an unlikely new friend. We’re surprised he didn’t run into any Ewoks out there.

Director Fleur Fortuné’s short sci-fi film feels more like an episode of Black Mirror than an ad for a personal investment app, but that’s exactly what it is – a sophisticated promotional spot for KOHO that envisions a future where big money banks steal our dreams – literally.

D.Va is obsessed with defending her hometown from invaders. But she forgets that she’s not the only one who can contribute. Overwatch‘s gamer-turned-mech pilot shines in Blizzard’s exciting animated short film.

So it’s common knowledge that dogs aren’t supposed to eat chocolate. But the guy in Alex Grigg’s animated short gives into his pup’s demands, and the consequences are far greater than anyone could have expected. A silly entry into Loopdeloop’s dog-themed contest.

A look at how raw clay is pulled from the earth and transformed by hand into beautiful and intricate sculptures by artisans in Michoacan, Mexico. It’s a wonderful, all too brief look into artistic traditions from Mariano Rentería’s fantastic Mexican Handcraft Masters series.

Alan Becker, the man behind the epic Animator vs. Animation series is back. This time out, his stick figures decide to help out with his animation project, and digital chaos ensues when a virus invades the system. We’re looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Created by nine different animators over the course of a year, each tackling 32 seconds (8 bars) of a song before passing it on for the next artist to continue the story, Lucinate’s title track Big Noise is an awesome collaboration. It’s noir in your eyes and dreamy jazz in your ears.

A boy without a body is sent on an errand. As he goes out, he meets adults who are literally melting down from stress, even if their problems are only about the little things. Amy J. Xu’s surreal animated short is a fun reminder for us to calm down and let go.

(PG-13: Language) Dave Grohl may be a veteran at his craft, but he still recognizes that he can always improve. That’s what he celebrates in Play, which culminates – at 8:16 in the video – in a 23-minute performance in which he performs all of the instruments.

(Mature Content) Karl is that guy. That friend whom you barely even consider as a friend anymore because he can’t take a hint. Karl’s friends had enough and decided maybe this guy needs to leave Earth. Will they go through with the plan? Find out in this silly short film.

A beautifully illustrated and fantastically well-lit animated CGI short which envisions the thoughts of Jacqueline Auriol, a French aviator who famously broke air speed records back in the ’50s and ’60s. Created by students of the ESMA CG Animation & FX Master Degree.

(PG-13) Animator Jeron Braxton has a truly unique style that combines dreamlike imagery, with elements from pop culture and folk art, laced with intense socio-political commentary. In this trippy clip, a man starts off in a car race that ends up being a race for his life.