Awesome Short Films

Peter Ahern’s short film Buzzkill is an animated horror-comedy that starts as a happy little story about a new couple about to enjoy their first kiss. And we emphasize the “about to” because it’s just not going to happen. You see, neither of our protagonists is what they seem, and one of them is about to meet an untimely demise.

(PG-13: Language) Adam Long and Adam Peterson’s warped short film drops us into a conversation between two buddies. But what starts out as an attempt to cheer up a depressed friend takes a wild turn that reveals a disturbing family secret and a critical mission to prevent the universe from ripping itself apart.

(Flashing images) Filmmaker Conner Griffith created this riveting short video from public domain images found on Wikimedia Commons. It starts with a single-cell organism, and as each frame advances, the subjects evolve into larger and increasingly complex things. Conner’s 2023 showreel is also well worth a watch.

Artist Alain Biet created this mindblowing short film, which starts out with an artist painting an image of a pencil. As soon as he’s done with that one, more everyday objects start appearing and accumulating until the frame is completely filled. We can’t imagine how long it took Alain to create all 8,000 watercolor paintings. Music by Yan Volsy + Pablo Pico

Alfred Hitchcock loved to inject himself into scenes in his movies. In this cleverly edited black-and-white short film from Fabrice Mathieu, he made it look like the Master of Suspense was the one true killer in his films, making Hitch’s cameos much more ominous.

Jonathan Brooks’ science fiction short takes place aboard the International Space Station. When its lone astronaut loses contact with Earth and the station losing altitude, he starts wondering how he will survive and questioning what is real and imagined. Its creators began by searching the NASA Public Archives and wrote a story to match the source footage.

What starts as an ordinary day in the city quickly descends into pandemonium when a gigantic wiener dog appears and starts crushing, crumbling, and chomping his way through the streets. Does the big dog with the stubby legs mean harm, or does he just want some snacks? Crusoe the Dachshund stars in this silly send-up of monster B-movies.

Alan Becker’s Animation vs. series usually has stick figures battling the animation process or other stick figures. But in this short, our stick figure hero encounters a new challenge – mathematics. Things start with simple addition and subtraction, but the calculations quickly become harder to solve, especially when Euler’s Identity shows up.

Views of an AI imagines a film in the Blade Runner universe, but in the style of Fritz Lang, the man behind the 1927 cinematic masterpiece Metropolis. Like Ridley Scott’s original, it follows the story of a man who retires replicants and falls in love with one, then adds a new layer about a rebellion against the ruling class who created these androids.

In Carlos Gómez-Trigo’s short film, three survivors of an apocalyptic disaster debate how soon it will be safe to remove their helmets. After multiple signs point to an end to the threat, one of them becomes impatient and jumps the gun. What happens next might make you flinch. Be sure to turn on subtitles.

In this intense animation by MIKAN, a group of bicyclists find themselves in a race for survival. Which of the 25 colorful riders will make it to the end, and which will perish in some nightmarish fashion? It’s kind of like Squid Game but on bikes. Craving more bike survival action? MIKAN has got you covered.

Jean-Baptiste Chandelier and a very skilled camera crew take us on a wild ride through the mountains, as the paragliding pro flies over moving cars, chases down motorcycle riders, bicyclists, and skateboarders, and gives the cops a run for their money. The accompanying track is Ca Plane Pour Moi by Plastic Bertrand.

The early days of AI filmmaking are here, and the results are just as strange as you might imagine. Justin Hackney’s short film takes us to a carnival filled with freaky characters and retro-futuristic tech. He used DALL_E and Midjourney to generate style references, then entered modified prompts into Runway Gen-2 to create the footage. (Thanks, Gregory!)

This wildly imaginative short film from Panic takes us on a tour of the creative studio’s methodology, using animation to guide our way. The story is driven by a goofy character named Berthold, who learns about the meetings, scripting, storyboarding, illustration, sound design, and editing processes that went into bring his own story to life.

Filmmaker and world traveler Brandon Li takes us on a captivating and colorful journey through Morocco. The short film is packed with exciting motion shots that put us in the middle of the action and capture the energy of the country and its people. Learn about Brandon’s inspirations and process in the director’s commentary.

Filmmaker Conner Griffith scanned more than 1400 vintage engravings to create this meditative short film. It tells a series of abstract stories by isolating objects into individual frames. Conner’s effective sound design helps drive it along. The entire library of public domain images is available for download here.