THE BEST Short Films

Gervais Merryweather describes his animated short as a “love letter to the 1980s,” and we think he nailed it. From the kids in the video arcade, to the giant hairdos, and TV store window displays. What pushes it over the edge is the synthwave soundtrack by Mitch Murder.

Daihei Shibata’s short film is brilliant in its simplicity. It features two images – a line graph and an actual object. The graph then updates to reflect the state of the real world item. The accompaniment by Fukushima Yasuharu and the EX NOVO Chamber Choir is the icing on the cake.

Despite its lighthearted style, animator Nata Metlukh’s short film covers some serious territory, as an immigrant comes to a first-world country only to find the nation’s arcane and crippling rules make him feel completely unwelcome in their supposed land of opportunity.

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page was once bequeathed a 1959 Fender Telecaster guitar. With a little help from Page himself, the animators at Nexus Studios share the mystical story of this illustrious and iconic instrument. Fender sells a replica of the psychedelic dragon guitar here.

Trevor Gordon found an abandoned tiny fishing boat in a field, and reconstructed it in the hopes of using it to find surfing spots. Ian Durkin and his crew chronicled the rebirth of the Camel in an endearing short film that is a sweet tribute to both making and surfing.

Surrealist animator Cyriak Harris presents his latest triptastic short film, featuring a plethora of strange and creepy critters which dwell inside a digestive system, and the chaos which ensues when it gets a bit of a tummy ache.

Filmmaker Peter Davies, along with cinematographer Nuri Moseinco present a beautifully-shot short film, captured as they traveled across Morocco, offering a brief look at the lives of the people who call the vibrant North African country their home.

For those of you who haven’t been there, Coke is a very powerful drug. No no no, not that coke, the other one – with the caffeine. Enjoy this cautionary tale in the four minutes of ardent animation and fluid (and true) storytelling from Dress Code.

Brian Donahue packs boxes at UPS. But he’s also been an NFL player, a WWF pro wrestler, a Disney theme park actor, and for decades now a stuntman and an actor. His body is broken, but he’s still in the mix, hoping to catch that big break in Hollywood.

(PG-13: Language) Dishwashers are the unsung heroes of restaurants. CBC Docs’ documentary gives us a peek into the life of three dishwashers. Instead of focusing on their work, the short film humanizes them by showing us their struggles and experiences.

Five logs find themselves lost on a cold, dark night, freezing to death, when they realize the only source of warmth is lighting their own kind on fire. A darkly comic animated short from Nils Hedinger. It’s sort of like the wooden equivalent of the movie Alive.

Written and directed by Andy Goralczyk this beautifully animated CGI short film is about a girl and her dog who encounter mysterious spirits as they trek through a forest. Blender Animation Studio is offering up the production assets for animators to learn from.

Remi Devouassoud’s visually stunning CG animated short presents us with an image which plays with our minds. Are we looking at another universe, or an up-close image of a human eye? Or is it both?

“I could tell he was a real space man… because he had these funny little boots on.” Dan Britt’s animated short for Adult Swim’s SMALLS tells a story of an ordinary man abducted by an alien who needs a little help. But that’s not all…

A street corner party erupts in the strangest possible way as a group of visually-distorted computer-generated characters get their rave on. Enjoy more of director Nikita Diakur’s wonderfully creative madness over on the website for his short film Ugly.

The Atlantic shares Edwin Lee’s beautiful documentary, Wasabia Japonica. It’s about Shigeo Iida, a 75-year-old who’s an eighth generation wasabi farmer. Most “wasabi” is actually dyed horseradish. Iida’s crop is the real deal, and fetches up to $250/kg.

A man enjoys his quiet and calm world every day until something loud and distracting enters his universe to shake things up. Animator Dan Castro’s short film proves that less is often sometimes more, and how sound can be just as important in telling a story as imagery.

Sava Zivkovic’s computer animated short film follows an alien creature who must deliver a mysterious object back to its home. The story only scratches the surface of the mystery, but the mood it sets is incredibly captivating. Go behind the scenes with its creators here.

Reddit newbie MaggieePearl asked her boyfriend Jason Velasquez for advice on how to best interact with the unforgiving world of the link-sharing platform, and rather than just walk her through a few tips on Reddit etiquette, he made this video instead.

(PG-13: Language) Penny was an astronaut from the ’60s who was sent through a wormhole. She ended up 1000 years into the future, and found nothing but a wizard who’s addicted to cola. Joe & Lloyd Stas’ comedy short film is definitely driven by its characters.

Everyday lives in a neighborhood are shaken up when a mysterious stranger appears on the scene, and stokes the fire burning within each and every resident. Davide Dell’Edera and Airplan Studio’s animated short is an exercise in less-is-more storytelling.

After a night on the town, a man with a few too many drinks in him stops in a public toilet to relieve himself. But when he’s not exactly tidy, the restroom reminds him to clean up his act. Director Simeon Duncombe’s darkly-comic short film is well worth a watch.

Director Claudia Barral’s intriguing short film invites us to explore a series of locations over the course of many years, but rather than look at time in a linear fashion, scenes play out simultaneously in the same exact places.

(PG-13: Language) Two New Yorkers trying to break into Hollywood finally lose it, and everything goes to hell. Writer and director Gil Freston tries to make a name for himself by making fun of the very industry and city that he needs in this meta-comedy short film.

An elevator stops on the wrong floor in this super-condensed, but nonetheless super-creepy horror short film by Toby Meakins. Trust us when we say this half floor is way worse than the one in Being John Malkovich.

Director Katarina Lundquist’s beautifully animated short film tells the story of an old man and his best friend living out their days deep an a Norwegian forest. But one day, his pal disappears, and the man must deal with the emotional fallout of his loss.