Awesome Short Films

Shot in Santiago and Pittsburgh, Samm Hodges Illusions is a graceful, multilayered short film that explores optical illusions, memory and the human experience. (Thanks Christine!)

This sultry, provocative short horror film directed by Husson has more than a little in common with Tony Scott’s cult classic The Hunger. The music, costumes and subject matter channel the style of the 1980s brilliantly.

A lazy man hears of a wonderful product that automates everyday tasks. Gadget freaks and Internet addicts will be able to guess how this plays out. A wonderfully animated short film made by Auke de Vries.

Chase to Death is a great fan-made trailer for Dead Space. The storyline could go deeper, but overall it is a great reminder of what low-budget indie productions can do these days. Made by Z Pictures.

(NSFW: Language, Gore) A group of friends unwittingly summon a demon using a Ouija board. A perfect, tight horror short directed by Anthony Melton. Part of the Bloody Cuts series.

(NSFW: Language) A short film based on a true story about street artist Shepard Fairey. It has a good cast and is very well shot, but it would’ve been even better had it provided even a modicum of context for Fairey’s iconic piece.

A boy and his dog crash land in the middle of nowhere in outer space. With their oxygen running out, the question becomes less about extending their lives and more about what they should do with what little time they have left.

Three stories intertwine in a way that we wish would happen more often in real life. A short film about paying it forward that proves that good acting can make a predictable plot enjoyable.

(NSFW) If you thought this was alarming, watch ADHD and Layzell Bros’ hilariously pessimistic take on our future, where technology has made us so dysfunctional that we only interact virtually and parrot each others’ memes.

A security guard at a movie studio is granted the perfect prank. Just when there are reports of a strange creature and the local drive-in is showing a horror movie, he stumbles upon a monster costume. Then he gets stuck in it.

Can you guess what the giraffe is doing? Here’s a hint: giraffes are not exactly animals that you would associate with grace and elegance, but director Nicolas Devaux does just that in this animated short.

Set in a zombie apocalypse, Cargo sees a father determined to take his baby to safety. The problem? He’s been bitten. The short takes an overused hook and what would otherwise be a clichéd scene into a powerful story.

(NSFW: Language) A young rockstar – who’s also someone’s son and someone’s father – is visited by a strange and bumbling messenger of doom. And bringer of pie. A very morbid comedy by Caleb Slain.

(NSFW: Language) Writer and filmmaker Sam Molleur combined the sayings, “a friend in need is a friend indeed” and “be careful what you wish for.” The result? A silly story about self-discovery.

Director Goran Dukić’s adaptation of a charming and romantic short story written by Etgar Keret. The story originally appeared in Keret’s book Suddenly, a Knock on the Door.

Animator Kristjan Lyngmo turns horror tropes on their head while examining the difficulties of being a masked killer in this funny computer animated short. We wonder if Mreddy Mrueger has it any easier.

A woman who dreams in images from classic films auditions for a part of her own. Oh, did we mention she was a robot? A wonderfully imaginative CGI animated short film created by Kerry Conran for WIGS. Go BTS here.

Swiss filmmaker Michael Frei makes us contemplate the universe and dazzles us in black and white with his simply styled characters and minimal yet effective score in his animated short Not About Us.

Comprised of silhouettes of landscapes at dusk, with no humans to be seen, James Chiny aka Hypoly’s animated creation really has no plot to speak of, but we still think Circa is beautiful.

A blustery day in Chicago turns out to be more stormy for one young man who must decide whether he is destined to live on land or in the sea, in WET, produced by Rubbish. (Thanks Brad!)

A brief documentary by the SoundWorks Collection about composer Yoav Goren and his company Immediate Music, which makes scores for movie promotional materials such as trailers and TV spots.

We like Samuel Orr’s four minute time-lapse because 1) the film was dynamically distilled from 100,000+ photos; and, frankly, 2) it’s fun to see 24 hours unfold in the greatest city in the world.

An award-winning short film by Eli Sasich that pays tribute to classic science fiction – a story of a lost, drifting spaceship whose brain becomes self-aware, and builds a robotic body for itself.