VIEW SHORT FILMS
Watch: 'The Cowboy & The Samurai' Short About Nicholson & Belushi
"Have you ever actually seen a carnie playing the accordion for a dancing monkey?" Has anyone…? The Cowboy & The Samurai is a funny sort-of-true-story short film from The Lewis Brothers - now available online to watch in full. Here's the setup for this: in 1978, world renowned movie star, Jack Nicholson, made his feature directorial debut, a western called Goin' South. Against the advice of his producers, he cast up and coming comedian, John Belushi. Both John and Jack are known as Hollywood's biggest bad boys and both are about to meet their match. The Cowboy and The Samurai is a fictional feature inspired by the true story of the making of the film. In this short, Jamie Costa plays Nicholson (though he still looks exactly like Robin Williams) and Sandy Danto plays Belushi. We featured a trailer for this last year, so it's good to follow up with the finished film. It's clever and amusing, a nice homage to wild times from Hollywood's past.
› Posted on February 16 in Comedy, Short Film, To Watch | Comments
Watch: Tech Horror Romance Short 'Cautionary Tale' from J.L. Topkis
"Ever wonder what love does to a memory? How about what a memory does to love?" Check out this new Valentine's Day romance horror short if you're in the mood for something a bit scary. Cautionary Tale is a 15-min short made by up-and-coming filmmaker J.L. Topkis and it is, well, a cautionary tale about being addicted to your phone. Starring Larkin Bell and Carlie Young, with an innovative glitch art editing style by Scott Morris (you have to watch to understand what this means). Text messages from beyond the grave reshape a woman’s life by warning her whenever she’s done something for the last time. This goes hand-in-hand with the trailer that also debuted on the same day for Love Again, about a woman who texts her dead fiance. What an eerie coincidence! This is a pretty trippy short, the editing is a bit jarring at first but it turns into something quite creative, almost like time travel horror. I appreciate the ambition - it's worth a watch.
› Posted on February 14 in Horror, Short Film, To Watch | Comments
Watch: Charlie Kaufman's Short Film 'Jackals & Fireflies' for Samsung
"No one knows I'm me, so what am I worried about?" Likely Story + ArtClass have revealed a new short film called Jackals & Fireflies, which just so happens to be the latest Charlie Kaufman film, following his most recent feature I'm Thinking of Ending Things (that was on Netflix in 2020). This is also another advertisement, involving a phone company hiring a talented filmmaker to make a film shot on their phones (also see: Park Chan-wook's Life is But a Dream for Apple). A woman wanders the streets of New York City, takes buses and trains, sits in bars and coffee shops, experiencing the city's diverse neighborhoods, while thinking about her life, her loneliness, and unrequited love… She finds moments of communion with various people she meets along the way and with the city itself. Featuring music by Brian Kobayakawa. Shot on Galaxy S22 Ultra phones. Based on a poem by Eva H.D., which is recited in this. "The filmmakers kindly ask you please set the resolution to 4K and allow to buffer for optimal viewing experience." View in full below.
› Posted on February 13 in Short Film, To Watch | Comments
Watch: Superb Japanese Short 'The Voice Actress' Follows 'Kingyo'
"Undefeated by the rain… Undefeated by the wind… Undefeated by the snow and the scorching summer heat." Oh my this is such a wonderful short film - one of the best this year so far. The Voice Actress is an entrancing 15-minute short film made by Japanese-American filmmaker Anna J. Takayama. It's a tribute to her mom, who was also a voice actress in Japan. After first premiering at festivals last year and picking up some awards - the short is now available online for everyone. It's a must watch! The fictional film follows a woman named Kingyo, played by Urara Takano (who's also a real voice actress in Japan for many anime characters), who possesses an ability to see the soul in all things. But the voice acting world is changing and she must find a way to reconcile her way of living with the modern industry. It's a beautifully shot, sincere film about a woman who deeply cares about her work and her (voice) performances being authentic. I really adore how patient and serene this short is, with all these lovely little touches like the fish and her umbrella.
› Posted on February 9 in Documentaries, Short Film, To Watch | Comments
Watch: 'In the Shadow' - Clever Short Film About Film Noir Shadows
"My hands were always dirty. They were soaked daily in the unnameable… Who was the obscure being in this story?" Another must watch short film creation from French filmmaker / editor Fabrice Mathieu. His latest is In the Shadow (also titled Dans l'ombre in French), a clever mash-up of film noir B&W footage to create an intriguing story about a shadow escaping his "wearer" in a city full of mystery and darkness. "A shadow is telling its life story with his 'Wearer', a flesh & bone double, who one day it decides to get rid of…" This is a proof-of-concept pitch made entirely from existing footage from more than 60 movies showing the most beautiful shadows in cinema history, from Nosferatu to Sin City to The Third Man, and everything else in-between. It's narrated from the shadow's POV. This is so mesmerizing! Another great film from Fabrice.
› Posted on February 8 in Feat, Short Film, To Watch | Comments
Watch This: 'Edmond' - Award-Winning Stop-Motion Cannibal Short
A short about a cannibal? Bon appetit. Believe it or not, this won the Best Animated Short BAFTA Award a few years ago. Our friends at Short of the Week pulled this out of their archives to share again - we never posted it before. Edmond is a stop-motion animated short from 2015 made by filmmaker Nina Gantz. Edmond's impulse to love and be close to others is strong… Maybe too strong. As he stands alone by a lake contemplating his options, he goes on a journey backwards through his life, revisiting his defining moments in search of the root of his desires. He "slips through floors into the past and the deepest parts of his psyche in his pursuit of self-understanding" as a cannibal. This would play very nicely as the opening short before Bones and All from last year. The felt characters & soft style in it work delightfully opposite the freaky topic.
› Posted on February 7 in Animation, Short Film, To Watch | Comments
Watch: An Eerie Animated Horror Short - 'Something in the Garden'
What if you find something creepy crawling in the garden in the backyard? What do you do? If you're in the mood for something weird and creepy, this fantastic animated short film is worth a watch. Something in the Garden is made by a Chilean animation filmmaker named Marcos Sánchez. He animated all of this on his own and I really dig the look of his animation style. It played at numerous film festivals over the last few years, including at Sitges in 2021 and SXSW in 2022, also winning Best Animated Short at the 2022 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF). Here's the intro: It's nighttime in the suburbs and the stillness is interrupted by a strange presence, a creeping being that lurks in the dark. The stellar animation is set on a black background, which gives the characters a distinct dynamic in the "darkness" of the frame. There's something very eerie about this and how simple & unsettling it is following this creepy thing around.
› Posted on February 3 in Horror, Short Film, To Watch | Comments
Watch: Road Rage Dark Comedy Short Film 'A Simple F*!&ing Gesture'
"Not giving 'the wave' is just a symbol of what we've become as a society." Road rage is dangerous!! Don't let it take over you. This Canadian short film titled A Simple F*!&ing Gesture is about a couple that gets super pissed in their car one evening. After playing at festivals the past few years, it's now online to watch for free. While stuck in traffic, emotions escalate for a husband and wife when another driver doesn’t give them a "thank you wave" after they cut in. Comparing him to a symbol of all that is wrong in the world, they are terrified when he pulls over to confront them. Starring Paul Bates, Christy Bruce, Chuck Shamata. At only 8 mins, this is a fast and easy watch, and a nice reminder that anger comes all too easily these days.
› Posted on January 31 in Short Film, To Watch | Comments
Watch: Experimental Animated Short Film 'Rehousing Technosphere'
"Prolonged exposure to solar radiation generated a thin layer of noble gas, resulting in the creation of a new planetary crust." Another experimental short film to melt your mind and make you think in new ways. Rehousing Technosphere is the creation of Copenhagen-based filmmakers Wang & Söderström, who create art installations and videos like this to express unique ideas. This time they're addressing Earth itself. The short features funky 3D CGI shapes that interact and roll around to represent a changing planet. "This speculative animated film takes place on Earth in a distant future. Playing with the tone and structure of a nature documentary, it offers glimpses into how life forms adapt to a new planetary ecology." This film takes us into a desert-like colorful world. New species exploit a layer of the planet's crust by digging, foraging, and designing new homes. I wish there was more to the narrative, though it's an entrancing watch nonetheless.
› Posted on January 30 in Animation, Short Film, To Watch | Comments
Watch: Wonderful Animated Short 'The Kite' Made by Martin Smatana
Another absolutely wonderful animated short film to enjoy. The Kite is a stop-motion animated short made using paper and felt by a filmmaker named Martin Smatana, who is based in Slovakia. The film is a Czech production and was made mostly in Prague. It premiered in 2019 and played at lots of festivals back then, and is finally online for everyone to watch & enjoy. Only 12 minutes! It's worth it! Described as a short film for children about the loss of a loved one, for all ages. "The Kite deals with the issue of death, but it does so in a simple metaphorical and symbolic way on the relationship between the little boy and his grandpa. The Kite explains that none of us are here forever and that all living creatures must die, but also to show that death doesn't mean the end of our journey." I always love seeing the creativity in design and the materials in a short like this, especially with the layers of paper in the grandpa's hands. It's all so beautiful. Watch below.
› Posted on January 26 in Animation, Short Film, To Watch | Comments
Watch: 'My Year Of Dicks' - The Oscar Nominated Animated Short Film
"Because everybody has one." Yep. One surprise Oscar nominee announced yesterday was a short film with a provocative title - My Year of Dicks. This animated short premiered at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival last year, won the Cristal Award at Annecy in the summer, and is now online for everyone to watch. It's one of the five shorts nominated at the 2022 Academy Awards in the Best Animated Short Film category. If you want to give it a look, watch below. Directed by Sara Gunnarsdóttir, the film is written by and based on the memoir of Pamela Ribon, telling stories about her time as a teen in 1991 - the year she tried to lose her virginity by chasing a number of different boys. Pam tries very hard to lose her virginity and always searches for "the one". She's not alone, her best friends are with her. The voice cast includes Brie Tilton, Jackson Kelly, Klarissa Hernandez, and Chris Elsenbroek. The short runs a bit long - it's 25 minutes in total - but it's a delightfully quirky, amusing, and honest look at young love and the wacky choices we make. Enjoy.
› Posted on January 25 in Animation, Short Film, To Watch | 1 Comment
Watch: Bewitching Animated Short 'Hôtel Nuit Noire' Made in France
"I thought this key only opened the right doors. But it turned this dream into a nightmare." Wow. Another magnificent short film made by students at the French animation school known as GOBELINS in Paris. This short is called Hôtel Nuit Noire, which in English is titled Midnight Hotel. "What if it were possible to meet one another in our sleep? One night, three strangers find themselves in a Hotel of dreams. They must navigate this strange world together before dawn." This short is less than 7 minutes, but is split into three chapters, each about a different character. Along with a sumptuous, moody score, it's a seriously bewitching animated short with a magical vibe that reminds me of Miyazaki's movies. This is one of these mesmerizing shorts where we recommend that everyone turn off the lights, go full screen, turn up the volume, and enjoy.
› Posted on January 18 in Animation, Short Film, To Watch | Comments
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