Menu
20 short films under
20 minutes
"You want me to watch a 4-hour film in one sitting?" My friends rage at my arthouse recs. In response, I've curated this list of shorts — from animation firsts to avant-garde fever dreams. None longer than your lunch break.
The title of this blog comes from Robert Bresson's observation that "cinema is in the ellipses between scenes." Short films are an extreme exercise in omission. Take "Laps"—six minutes, no dialogue, yet it's been living in my head rent-free for weeks. Here are twenty wonderful films with a total runtime of three hours.
20 short films under
20 minutes
"You want me to watch a 4-hour film in one sitting?" My friends rage at my arthouse recs. In response, I've curated this list of shorts — from animation firsts to avant-garde fever dreams. None longer than your lunch break.
The title of this blog comes from Robert Bresson's observation that "cinema is in the ellipses between scenes." Short films are an extreme exercise in omission. Take "Laps"—six minutes, no dialogue, yet it's been living in my head rent-free for weeks. Here are twenty wonderful films with a total runtime of three hours.
20 films under 20 minutes: A curated list
"You want me to watch a 4-hour film in one sitting?" My friends rage at my arthouse recs. In response, I've curated this list of shorts — from animation firsts to avant-garde fever dreams. None longer than your lunch break.
The title of this blog comes from Robert Bresson's observation that "cinema is in the ellipses between scenes." Short films are an extreme exercise in omission. Take "Laps"—six minutes, no dialogue, yet it's been living in my head rent-free for weeks. Here are twenty wonderful films with a total runtime of three hours.
20 short films under
20 minutes
"You want me to watch a 4-hour film in one sitting?" My friends rage at my arthouse recs. In response, I've curated this list of shorts — from animation firsts to avant-garde fever dreams. None longer than your lunch break.
The title of this blog comes from Robert Bresson's observation that "cinema is in the ellipses between scenes." Short films are an extreme exercise in omission. Take "Laps"—six minutes, no dialogue, yet it's been living in my head rent-free for weeks. Here are twenty wonderful films with a total runtime of three hours.
01
Daybreak Express
D. A. Pennebaker
5 min
·
1953
D.A. Pennebaker transforms the morning commute into the best 5 minutes of your day. Duke Ellington's Daybreak Express drives the rhythm, as we soar along New York's Third Avenue elevated train line, now lost to history.
Silhouetted trains and buildings dance against the orange sky. Pennebaker finds a pulse in the everyday - the play of light through lampposts, the winding tracks, and even a stop light.
01
Daybreak Express
D. A. Pennebaker
5 min
·
1953
D.A. Pennebaker transforms the morning commute into the best 5 minutes of your day. Duke Ellington's Daybreak Express drives the rhythm, as we soar along New York's Third Avenue elevated train line, now lost to history.
Silhouetted trains and buildings dance against the orange sky. Pennebaker finds a pulse in the everyday - the play of light through lampposts, the winding tracks, and even a stop light.
01
Daybreak Express
D. A. Pennebaker
·
5 min
·
1953
D.A. Pennebaker transforms the morning commute into the best 5 minutes of your day. Duke Ellington's Daybreak Express drives the rhythm, as we soar along New York's Third Avenue elevated train line, now lost to history.
Silhouetted trains and buildings dance against the orange sky. Pennebaker finds a pulse in the everyday - the play of light through lampposts, the winding tracks, and even a stop light.
02
Borom Sarret
Ousmane Sembène
17 min
·
1963
Borom Sarret ("cart driver" in Wolof) is a 1963 Senegalese film that follows a day in the life of a cart driver in Dakar, revealing the crushing weight of poverty and the social divisions that cut through the city.
This is one of the first films made in Africa by an African filmmaker. Sembene captures post-colonial Senegalese life through an African lens rather than a European one. Film scholar Manthia Diawara explains how Sembene uses Dakar's topography to mirror its social hierarchy - as the cart driver moves through different neighborhoods, we see how the city segregates its social classes.
When he ventures into the wealthy French Quarter (in the Plateau), he's promptly stopped by the police - an inevitable trap to keep the poor in their place. By the film's end, after his cart is confiscated, he returns home empty-handed, right back where he started.
02
Borom Sarret
Ousmane Sembène
17 min
·
1963
Borom Sarret ("cart driver" in Wolof) is a 1963 Senegalese film that follows a day in the life of a cart driver in Dakar, revealing the crushing weight of poverty and the social divisions that cut through the city.
This is one of the first films made in Africa by an African filmmaker. Sembene captures post-colonial Senegalese life through an African lens rather than a European one. Film scholar Manthia Diawara explains how Sembene uses Dakar's topography to mirror its social hierarchy - as the cart driver moves through different neighborhoods, we see how the city segregates its social classes.
When he ventures into the wealthy French Quarter (in the Plateau), he's promptly stopped by the police - an inevitable trap to keep the poor in their place. By the film's end, after his cart is confiscated, he returns home empty-handed, right back where he started.
02
Borom Sarret
Ousmane Sembène
·
17 min
·
1963
Borom Sarret ("cart driver" in Wolof) is a 1963 Senegalese film that follows a day in the life of a cart driver in Dakar, revealing the crushing weight of poverty and the social divisions that cut through the city.
This is one of the first films made in Africa by an African filmmaker. Sembene captures post-colonial Senegalese life through an African lens rather than a European one. Film scholar Manthia Diawara explains how Sembene uses Dakar's topography to mirror its social hierarchy - as the cart driver moves through different neighborhoods, we see how the city segregates its social classes.
Spoiler
When he ventures into the wealthy French Quarter (in the Plateau), he's promptly stopped by the police - an inevitable trap to keep the poor in their place. By the film's end, after his cart is confiscated, he returns home empty-handed, right back where he started.
03
My Josephine
Barry Jenkins
8 min
·
2003
My Josephine features an Arab American laundromat worker reflecting on his relationship with his partner, Adela. Together they wash American flags during their night shift in the aftermath of 9/11. Jenkins was inspired by a marquee sign "American Flags Cleaned Free" in a Tallahassee laundromat.
He explores what it meant to be Arab American in the post-9/11 South, with its title referencing Napoleon's love for his first partner, Josephine.
Within the confines of a laundromat, Jenkins crafts two perspectives: a lover's out-of-focus gaze capturing the fleeting nature of love, and America's view of two nervous immigrants, often at slanted angles. A revolving shot from inside the laundry machine is especially poignant.
03
My Josephine
Barry Jenkins
8 min
·
2003
My Josephine features an Arab American laundromat worker reflecting on his relationship with his partner, Adela. Together they wash American flags during their night shift in the aftermath of 9/11. Jenkins was inspired by a marquee sign "American Flags Cleaned Free" in a Tallahassee laundromat.
He explores what it meant to be Arab American in the post-9/11 South, with its title referencing Napoleon's love for his first partner, Josephine.
Within the confines of a laundromat, Jenkins crafts two perspectives: a lover's out-of-focus gaze capturing the fleeting nature of love, and America's view of two nervous immigrants, often at slanted angles. A revolving shot from inside the laundry machine is especially poignant.
03
My Josephine
Barry Jenkins
·
8 min
·
2003
My Josephine features an Arab American laundromat worker reflecting on his relationship with his partner, Adela. Together they wash American flags during their night shift in the aftermath of 9/11. Jenkins was inspired by a marquee sign "American Flags Cleaned Free" in a Tallahassee laundromat.
He explores what it meant to be Arab American in the post-9/11 South, with its title referencing Napoleon's love for his first partner, Josephine.
Within the confines of a laundromat, Jenkins crafts two perspectives: a lover's out-of-focus gaze capturing the fleeting nature of love, and America's view of two nervous immigrants, often at slanted angles. A revolving shot from inside the laundry machine is especially poignant.
04
So Can I
Abbas Kiarostami
5 min
·
1975
So Can I follows a young boy watching an educational animation about animals, boldly declaring he can match their every feat. As each creature displays its unique ability - a kangaroo hopping on hindlegs, a worm crawling on the ground - the boy enthusiastically proclaims "So can I!"
Kiarostami uses this framework to show the power of childhood imagination, building up to a memorable ending. He has a gift for finding profound meaning in everyday sequences, especially with young performers.
His other short work Two Solutions for One Problem (1975) similarly uses a child's perspective to explore human nature, hiding sharp observations behind playful humor. Both films demonstrate how children's straightforward way of seeing the world can reveal unexpected truths.
04
So Can I
Abbas Kiarostami
5 min
·
1975
So Can I follows a young boy watching an educational animation about animals, boldly declaring he can match their every feat. As each creature displays its unique ability - a kangaroo hopping on hindlegs, a worm crawling on the ground - the boy enthusiastically proclaims "So can I!"
Kiarostami uses this framework to show the power of childhood imagination, building up to a memorable ending. He has a gift for finding profound meaning in everyday sequences, especially with young performers.
His other short work Two Solutions for One Problem (1975) similarly uses a child's perspective to explore human nature, hiding sharp observations behind playful humor. Both films demonstrate how children's straightforward way of seeing the world can reveal unexpected truths.
04
So Can I
Abbas Kiarostami
·
5 min
·
1975
So Can I follows a young boy watching an educational animation about animals, boldly declaring he can match their every feat. As each creature displays its unique ability - a kangaroo hopping on hindlegs, a worm crawling on the ground - the boy enthusiastically proclaims "So can I!"
Kiarostami uses this framework to show the power of childhood imagination, building up to a memorable ending. He has a gift for finding profound meaning in everyday sequences, especially with young performers.
His other short work Two Solutions for One Problem (1975) similarly uses a child's perspective to explore human nature, hiding sharp observations behind playful humor. Both films demonstrate how children's straightforward way of seeing the world can reveal unexpected truths.
05
Laps
Charlotte Wells
6 min
·
2017
(Content warning: sexual assault)
A woman on a crowded New York City subway endures sexual assault. Charlotte Wells (of Aftersun) captures the harrowing experience, revealing how desensitized routine passengers have become to such incidents.
Drawing from her own experiences during crowded commutes, Wells creates a visceral portrayal of entrapment in Laps. Wells' close-up camerawork creates both claustrophobia and isolation - we're pressed up against the protagonist while the crowd around her blurs into obscurity.
The aggressor's face remains unseen, suggesting how commonplace such violations have become. Nearby passengers might raise an eyebrow, but their response never rises above mere indifference.
When she finally escapes his clutches by getting off the train, a grim reality sets in - she must face the possibility of another assault on her next route, another lap.
05
Laps
Charlotte Wells
6 min
·
2017
(Content warning: sexual assault)
A woman on a crowded New York City subway endures sexual assault. Charlotte Wells (of Aftersun) captures the harrowing experience, revealing how desensitized routine passengers have become to such incidents.
Drawing from her own experiences during crowded commutes, Wells creates a visceral portrayal of entrapment in Laps. Wells' close-up camerawork creates both claustrophobia and isolation - we're pressed up against the protagonist while the crowd around her blurs into obscurity.
The aggressor's face remains unseen, suggesting how commonplace such violations have become. Nearby passengers might raise an eyebrow, but their response never rises above mere indifference.
When she finally escapes his clutches by getting off the train, a grim reality sets in - she must face the possibility of another assault on her next route, another lap.
05
Laps
Charlotte Wells
·
6 min
·
2017
(Content warning: sexual assault)
A woman on a crowded New York City subway endures sexual assault. Charlotte Wells (of Aftersun) captures the harrowing experience, revealing how desensitized routine passengers have become to such incidents.
Drawing from her own experiences during crowded commutes, Wells creates a visceral portrayal of entrapment in Laps. Wells' close-up camerawork creates both claustrophobia and isolation - we're pressed up against the protagonist while the crowd around her blurs into obscurity.
The aggressor's face remains unseen, suggesting how commonplace such violations have become. Nearby passengers might raise an eyebrow, but their response never rises above mere indifference.
When she finally escapes his clutches by getting off the train, a grim reality sets in - she must face the possibility of another assault on her next route, another lap.
06
Charlotte et son Jules
Jean-Luc Godard
13 min
·
1958
Charlotte et son Jules is a sharp-tongued one-act where Jean-Paul Belmondo delivers a hilarious rant as Jules, stumbling around his tiny apartment while his ex-girlfriend Charlotte playfully deflects his musings. The film offers an early glimpse of Godard's trademark rapid-fire dialogue.
This film is shot entirely in a hotel room and pays homage to Jean Cocteau's one-act play Le Bel Indifférent. Belmondo's passionate performance (voiced by Godard himself) feels like a dress rehearsal for his iconic role in Breathless a year later.
06
Charlotte et son Jules
Jean-Luc Godard
13 min
·
1958
Charlotte et son Jules is a sharp-tongued one-act where Jean-Paul Belmondo delivers a hilarious rant as Jules, stumbling around his tiny apartment while his ex-girlfriend Charlotte playfully deflects his musings. The film offers an early glimpse of Godard's trademark rapid-fire dialogue.
This film is shot entirely in a hotel room and pays homage to Jean Cocteau's one-act play Le Bel Indifférent. Belmondo's passionate performance (voiced by Godard himself) feels like a dress rehearsal for his iconic role in Breathless a year later.
06
Charlotte et son Jules
Jean-Luc Godard
·
13 min
·
1958
Charlotte et son Jules is a sharp-tongued one-act where Jean-Paul Belmondo delivers a hilarious rant as Jules, stumbling around his tiny apartment while his ex-girlfriend Charlotte playfully deflects his musings. The film offers an early glimpse of Godard's trademark rapid-fire dialogue.
This film is shot entirely in a hotel room and pays homage to Jean Cocteau's one-act play Le Bel Indifférent. Belmondo's passionate performance (voiced by Godard himself) feels like a dress rehearsal for his iconic role in Breathless a year later.
07
Stay Awake, Be Ready
Pham Thien An
14 min
·
2019
In a single long take, Stay Awake, Be Ready unfolds on a Saigon street corner. Three young men chat at a street food vendor while life flows around them: smoke rises from cooking fires, a boy performs fire breathing tricks, and a woman promotes a beer brand. When a motorcycle crash occurs off-screen, a crowd quickly gathers before the street rhythms resume their usual pace.
One of the three men listens to "Ave Maria" through his headphones as he smokes. His friends discuss the crash with a mix of disgust and fascination, particularly fixating on the cyclist's graphic injuries. They criticize onlookers for merely taking photos of the accident, seemingly unaware of their own detached observation as they continue smoking and talking.
07
Stay Awake, Be Ready
Pham Thien An
14 min
·
2019
In a single long take, Stay Awake, Be Ready unfolds on a Saigon street corner. Three young men chat at a street food vendor while life flows around them: smoke rises from cooking fires, a boy performs fire breathing tricks, and a woman promotes a beer brand. When a motorcycle crash occurs off-screen, a crowd quickly gathers before the street rhythms resume their usual pace.
One of the three men listens to "Ave Maria" through his headphones as he smokes. His friends discuss the crash with a mix of disgust and fascination, particularly fixating on the cyclist's graphic injuries. They criticize onlookers for merely taking photos of the accident, seemingly unaware of their own detached observation as they continue smoking and talking.
07
Stay Awake, Be Ready
Pham Thien An
·
14 min
·
2019
In a single long take, Stay Awake, Be Ready unfolds on a Saigon street corner. Three young men chat at a street food vendor while life flows around them: smoke rises from cooking fires, a boy performs fire breathing tricks, and a woman promotes a beer brand. When a motorcycle crash occurs off-screen, a crowd quickly gathers before the street rhythms resume their usual pace.
One of the three men listens to "Ave Maria" through his headphones as he smokes. His friends discuss the crash with a mix of disgust and fascination, particularly fixating on the cyclist's graphic injuries. They criticize onlookers for merely taking photos of the accident, seemingly unaware of their own detached observation as they continue smoking and talking.
08
Thunder
Takashi Ito
5 min
·
1982
Takashi Ito's 1982 Japanese experimental short, Thunder, centers on a woman's face repeatedly vanishing behind and emerging from a pair of hands. A ribbon of light, created through long exposure, dances and oscillates through the frame, accompanied by unsettling sound effects.
From cinema's inception, two paths emerged: the Lumière brothers' realist documentaries and Georges Méliès's imaginative special effects. Thunder firmly aligns with the latter's magical tradition. Within an empty building's dark hallways and open spaces, the woman appears trapped in a traumatic experience. Through precise manipulation of lighting and sound, Ito creates a haunting atmosphere that envelops her.
08
Thunder
Takashi Ito
5 min
·
1982
Takashi Ito's 1982 Japanese experimental short, Thunder, centers on a woman's face repeatedly vanishing behind and emerging from a pair of hands. A ribbon of light, created through long exposure, dances and oscillates through the frame, accompanied by unsettling sound effects.
From cinema's inception, two paths emerged: the Lumière brothers' realist documentaries and Georges Méliès's imaginative special effects. Thunder firmly aligns with the latter's magical tradition. Within an empty building's dark hallways and open spaces, the woman appears trapped in a traumatic experience. Through precise manipulation of lighting and sound, Ito creates a haunting atmosphere that envelops her.
08
Thunder
Takashi Ito
·
5 min
·
1982
Takashi Ito's 1982 Japanese experimental short, Thunder, centers on a woman's face repeatedly vanishing behind and emerging from a pair of hands. A ribbon of light, created through long exposure, dances and oscillates through the frame, accompanied by unsettling sound effects.
From cinema's inception, two paths emerged: the Lumière brothers' realist documentaries and Georges Méliès's imaginative special effects. Thunder firmly aligns with the latter's magical tradition. Within an empty building's dark hallways and open spaces, the woman appears trapped in a traumatic experience. Through precise manipulation of lighting and sound, Ito creates a haunting atmosphere that envelops her.
09
La Chambre
Chantal Akerman
11 min
·
1972
In La Chambre, Chantal Akerman's camera slowly rotates 360 degrees within a single-room apartment, capturing a series of domestic objects: a fruit-laden round table, a large kettle on the stove, a vibrant red chair, and finally, Akerman herself reclining on the bed.
The film's structure is defined by its hypnotic circular pans. In lieu of narrative, it explores cinema's physicality through what becomes a revolving still life.
While still life traditionally belongs to painting and photography, La Chambre introduces cinema's unique element - time - through the camera's perpetual movement. Meaning emerges not from story, but from the medium itself.
Amid these moving still lifes, Akerman occasionally meets our gaze, looking directly into the camera. Like her deliberate bite of an apple within the frame, we're invited to slow down and savour these subtle shifts in still life.
09
La Chambre
Chantal Akerman
11 min
·
1972
In La Chambre, Chantal Akerman's camera slowly rotates 360 degrees within a single-room apartment, capturing a series of domestic objects: a fruit-laden round table, a large kettle on the stove, a vibrant red chair, and finally, Akerman herself reclining on the bed.
The film's structure is defined by its hypnotic circular pans. In lieu of narrative, it explores cinema's physicality through what becomes a revolving still life.
While still life traditionally belongs to painting and photography, La Chambre introduces cinema's unique element - time - through the camera's perpetual movement. Meaning emerges not from story, but from the medium itself.
Amid these moving still lifes, Akerman occasionally meets our gaze, looking directly into the camera. Like her deliberate bite of an apple within the frame, we're invited to slow down and savour these subtle shifts in still life.
09
La Chambre
Chantal Akerman
·
11 min
·
1972
In La Chambre, Chantal Akerman's camera slowly rotates 360 degrees within a single-room apartment, capturing a series of domestic objects: a fruit-laden round table, a large kettle on the stove, a vibrant red chair, and finally, Akerman herself reclining on the bed.
The film's structure is defined by its hypnotic circular pans. In lieu of narrative, it explores cinema's physicality through what becomes a revolving still life.
While still life traditionally belongs to painting and photography, La Chambre introduces cinema's unique element - time - through the camera's perpetual movement. Meaning emerges not from story, but from the medium itself.
Amid these moving still lifes, Akerman occasionally meets our gaze, looking directly into the camera. Like her deliberate bite of an apple within the frame, we're invited to slow down and savour these subtle shifts in still life.
10
Hyper-Reality
Keiichi Mastuda
6 min
·
2016
Hyper-Reality (2016) drops us into a future Medellín where Augmented Reality has devoured the world. Following Juliana through a day in her life - bus ride, grocery shopping, walking down the street - we see a reality where everything is gamified. You get points for taking the bus, lose them for not rating your ride. Even bananas are begging for attention, promising reward points.
Every surface is saturated with AR - endless popups and targeted ads, some preying on her insecurities. The sensory overload is relentless, and like any rigged game, you're set up to lose. The corporation always wins.
There's this one shot that broke my brain - when Juliana's AR crashes and customer support has to restart it. For a few precious seconds, we see just... reality. Raw, unfiltered reality. This is why every AR glasses maker should also release backup contact lenses.
10
Hyper-Reality
Keiichi Mastuda
6 min
·
2016
Hyper-Reality (2016) drops us into a future Medellín where Augmented Reality has devoured the world. Following Juliana through a day in her life - bus ride, grocery shopping, walking down the street - we see a reality where everything is gamified. You get points for taking the bus, lose them for not rating your ride. Even bananas are begging for attention, promising reward points.
Every surface is saturated with AR - endless popups and targeted ads, some preying on her insecurities. The sensory overload is relentless, and like any rigged game, you're set up to lose. The corporation always wins.
There's this one shot that broke my brain - when Juliana's AR crashes and customer support has to restart it. For a few precious seconds, we see just... reality. Raw, unfiltered reality. This is why every AR glasses maker should also release backup contact lenses.
10
Hyper-Reality
Keiichi Mastuda
·
6 min
·
2016
Hyper-Reality (2016) drops us into a future Medellín where Augmented Reality has devoured the world. Following Juliana through a day in her life - bus ride, grocery shopping, walking down the street - we see a reality where everything is gamified. You get points for taking the bus, lose them for not rating your ride. Even bananas are begging for attention, promising reward points.
Every surface is saturated with AR - endless popups and targeted ads, some preying on her insecurities. The sensory overload is relentless, and like any rigged game, you're set up to lose. The corporation always wins.
Spoiler
There's this one shot that broke my brain - when Juliana's AR crashes and customer support has to restart it. For a few precious seconds, we see just... reality. Raw, unfiltered reality. This is why every AR glasses maker should also release backup contact lenses.
11
Uncle Yanco
Agnes Varda
18 min
·
1967
Agnes Varda's 1967 documentary Uncle Yanco captures her first meeting with Jean Varda, her free-spirited cousin living on a houseboat in Sausalito. The 18-minute film drops us into the heart of Bay Area counterculture through Jean's floating home - a converted ferry that became a hub for artists, writers and dreamers. His raw enthusiasm for life is only matched by Varda's endearingly unhinged editing. The film gives us a rare look at Sausalito's waterfront scene.
Through Jean's boat and the surrounding water community, we see how the Bay Area's creative energy spread beyond San Francisco's streets and onto the water. Though brief, Uncle Yanco works as both a personal story and a snapshot of when the Bay Area drew in everyone looking to live and create differently.
11
Uncle Yanco
Agnes Varda
18 min
·
1967
Agnes Varda's 1967 documentary Uncle Yanco captures her first meeting with Jean Varda, her free-spirited cousin living on a houseboat in Sausalito. The 18-minute film drops us into the heart of Bay Area counterculture through Jean's floating home - a converted ferry that became a hub for artists, writers and dreamers. His raw enthusiasm for life is only matched by Varda's endearingly unhinged editing. The film gives us a rare look at Sausalito's waterfront scene.
Through Jean's boat and the surrounding water community, we see how the Bay Area's creative energy spread beyond San Francisco's streets and onto the water. Though brief, Uncle Yanco works as both a personal story and a snapshot of when the Bay Area drew in everyone looking to live and create differently.
11
Uncle Yanco
Agnes Varda
·
18 min
·
1967
Agnes Varda's 1967 documentary Uncle Yanco captures her first meeting with Jean Varda, her free-spirited cousin living on a houseboat in Sausalito. The 18-minute film drops us into the heart of Bay Area counterculture through Jean's floating home - a converted ferry that became a hub for artists, writers and dreamers. His raw enthusiasm for life is only matched by Varda's endearingly unhinged editing. The film gives us a rare look at Sausalito's waterfront scene.
Through Jean's boat and the surrounding water community, we see how the Bay Area's creative energy spread beyond San Francisco's streets and onto the water. Though brief, Uncle Yanco works as both a personal story and a snapshot of when the Bay Area drew in everyone looking to live and create differently.
12
To Be Free
Adepero Oduye
13 min
·
2017
To Be Free (2017) sees actor Adepero Oduye (Pariah) step into the director's chair, embodying Nina Simone in an intimate concert performance. Shot by Bradford Young (Arrival, Selma), the film captures a moment in the legendary singer's life through mood and atmosphere rather than traditional narrative. The film takes its title from one of Simone's most powerful statements about freedom meaning "no fear."
12
To Be Free
Adepero Oduye
13 min
·
2017
To Be Free (2017) sees actor Adepero Oduye (Pariah) step into the director's chair, embodying Nina Simone in an intimate concert performance. Shot by Bradford Young (Arrival, Selma), the film captures a moment in the legendary singer's life through mood and atmosphere rather than traditional narrative. The film takes its title from one of Simone's most powerful statements about freedom meaning "no fear."
12
To Be Free
Adepero Oduye
·
13 min
·
2017
To Be Free (2017) sees actor Adepero Oduye (Pariah) step into the director's chair, embodying Nina Simone in an intimate concert performance. Shot by Bradford Young (Arrival, Selma), the film captures a moment in the legendary singer's life through mood and atmosphere rather than traditional narrative. The film takes its title from one of Simone's most powerful statements about freedom meaning "no fear."
13
Luxo Jr
John Lasseter
2 min
·
1986
Pixar's 1986 debut Luxo Jr changed animation forever in just two minutes. A playful desk lamp (Jr) bounces around with a ball while its parent watches, creating a story so engaging you forget you're watching geometric shapes. This wasn't just a tech demo. It proved computer animation could carry the torch of of Disney's soulful hand-drawn films.
Director John Lasseter showed that CGI could do more than mimic reality - it could bring personality to the simplest objects. The short ends with the parent lamp looking at us with a resigned head shake, in a moment that feels startlingly human. That little lamp would become Pixar's mascot, still bouncing across screens to this day.
13
Luxo Jr
John Lasseter
2 min
·
1986
Pixar's 1986 debut Luxo Jr changed animation forever in just two minutes. A playful desk lamp (Jr) bounces around with a ball while its parent watches, creating a story so engaging you forget you're watching geometric shapes. This wasn't just a tech demo. It proved computer animation could carry the torch of of Disney's soulful hand-drawn films.
Director John Lasseter showed that CGI could do more than mimic reality - it could bring personality to the simplest objects. The short ends with the parent lamp looking at us with a resigned head shake, in a moment that feels startlingly human. That little lamp would become Pixar's mascot, still bouncing across screens to this day.
13
Luxo Jr
John Lasseter
·
2 min
·
1986
Pixar's 1986 debut Luxo Jr changed animation forever in just two minutes. A playful desk lamp (Jr) bounces around with a ball while its parent watches, creating a story so engaging you forget you're watching geometric shapes. This wasn't just a tech demo. It proved computer animation could carry the torch of of Disney's soulful hand-drawn films.
Director John Lasseter showed that CGI could do more than mimic reality - it could bring personality to the simplest objects. The short ends with the parent lamp looking at us with a resigned head shake, in a moment that feels startlingly human. That little lamp would become Pixar's mascot, still bouncing across screens to this day.
14
Doodlebug
Christopher Nolan
3 min
·
1997
Before bending our minds with Inception, Nolan gave us this delightfully unhinged 3-minute short from 1997. Shot in grainy black and white, Doodlebug follows a man desperately chasing something across his apartment floor.
Even in this early work, you can spot Nolan's obsessions - psychological tension, recursive plots, and reality bending.
Each version of our protagonist finds a smaller copy of himself, building to a darkly funny punchline. In just three minutes, Nolan crafts a complete mindfuck that shows exactly where his head was at.
14
Doodlebug
Christopher Nolan
3 min
·
1997
Before bending our minds with Inception, Nolan gave us this delightfully unhinged 3-minute short from 1997. Shot in grainy black and white, Doodlebug follows a man desperately chasing something across his apartment floor.
Even in this early work, you can spot Nolan's obsessions - psychological tension, recursive plots, and reality bending.
Each version of our protagonist finds a smaller copy of himself, building to a darkly funny punchline. In just three minutes, Nolan crafts a complete mindfuck that shows exactly where his head was at.
14
Doodlebug
Christopher Nolan
·
3 min
·
1997
Before bending our minds with Inception, Nolan gave us this delightfully unhinged 3-minute short from 1997. Shot in grainy black and white, Doodlebug follows a man desperately chasing something across his apartment floor.
Even in this early work, you can spot Nolan's obsessions - psychological tension, recursive plots, and reality bending.
Spoiler
Each version of our protagonist finds a smaller copy of himself, building to a darkly funny punchline. In just three minutes, Nolan crafts a complete mindfuck that shows exactly where his head was at.
15
The Skeleton Dance
Walt Disney
6 min
·
1929
The Skeleton Dance (1929) kicked off Disney's groundbreaking Silly Symphony series with a macabre setting. Midnight strikes, skeletons pop out of their graves, and proceed to start dancing. As you would.
Variety wrote about it in 1929: "Title tells the story, but not the number of laughs." They lost it when one skeleton used another's spine as a xylophone, with thigh bones as drumsticks. Denmark straight-up banned it for being too macabre, and Variety warned parents: "Don't bring your children."
15
The Skeleton Dance
Walt Disney
6 min
·
1929
The Skeleton Dance (1929) kicked off Disney's groundbreaking Silly Symphony series with a macabre setting. Midnight strikes, skeletons pop out of their graves, and proceed to start dancing. As you would.
Variety wrote about it in 1929: "Title tells the story, but not the number of laughs." They lost it when one skeleton used another's spine as a xylophone, with thigh bones as drumsticks. Denmark straight-up banned it for being too macabre, and Variety warned parents: "Don't bring your children."
15
The Skeleton Dance
Walt Disney
·
6 min
·
1929
The Skeleton Dance (1929) kicked off Disney's groundbreaking Silly Symphony series with a macabre setting. Midnight strikes, skeletons pop out of their graves, and proceed to start dancing. As you would.
Variety wrote about it in 1929: "Title tells the story, but not the number of laughs." They lost it when one skeleton used another's spine as a xylophone, with thigh bones as drumsticks. Denmark straight-up banned it for being too macabre, and Variety warned parents: "Don't bring your children."
16
Omelette
Madeline Sharafian
3 min
·
2013
Madeline Sharafian's Omelette (2015) is a simple story about an overworked man and his devoted dog. When his exhausted owner returns late, the pup takes it upon itself to make dinner, creating a heartwarming dance of mild kitchen panic and steely determination.
Sharafian's fluid animation pairs perfectly with Elis Regina's Aguas De Marco, adding rhythm to the cooking sequences. Her later work at Pixar, including 2020's Burrow, shows this same attention to small moments of care.
"I wanted to make something that focuses on how meaningful it is to make food for someone you love," Sharafian explains. Through a wordless story of a dog making eggs, she captures exactly that.
16
Omelette
Madeline Sharafian
3 min
·
2013
Madeline Sharafian's Omelette (2015) is a simple story about an overworked man and his devoted dog. When his exhausted owner returns late, the pup takes it upon itself to make dinner, creating a heartwarming dance of mild kitchen panic and steely determination.
Sharafian's fluid animation pairs perfectly with Elis Regina's Aguas De Marco, adding rhythm to the cooking sequences. Her later work at Pixar, including 2020's Burrow, shows this same attention to small moments of care.
"I wanted to make something that focuses on how meaningful it is to make food for someone you love," Sharafian explains. Through a wordless story of a dog making eggs, she captures exactly that.
16
Omelette
Madeline Sharafian
·
3 min
·
2013
Madeline Sharafian's Omelette (2015) is a simple story about an overworked man and his devoted dog. When his exhausted owner returns late, the pup takes it upon itself to make dinner, creating a heartwarming dance of mild kitchen panic and steely determination.
Sharafian's fluid animation pairs perfectly with Elis Regina's Aguas De Marco, adding rhythm to the cooking sequences. Her later work at Pixar, including 2020's Burrow, shows this same attention to small moments of care.
"I wanted to make something that focuses on how meaningful it is to make food for someone you love," Sharafian explains. Through a wordless story of a dog making eggs, she captures exactly that.
17
Meshes of the Afternoon
Maya Deren
14 min
·
1943
Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), made for just $275, stands as an one of the most influential avant-garde films. A woman (played by Deren) encounters a mysterious figure with a mirror for a face, while ordinary objects - keys, knives, phones - take on unsettling symbolic weight. With each loop through the dream sequence, the line between reality and imagination grows thinner.
Shot with her then-partner Alexander Hamid, the film was originally silent until 1959, when Deren's second partner Teiji Ito added a haunting score that deepened its dreamlike atmosphere. The way it transforms domestic spaces into psychological landscapes influenced generations of filmmakers, from Lynch to Kubrick.
17
Meshes of the Afternoon
Maya Deren
14 min
·
1943
Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), made for just $275, stands as an one of the most influential avant-garde films. A woman (played by Deren) encounters a mysterious figure with a mirror for a face, while ordinary objects - keys, knives, phones - take on unsettling symbolic weight. With each loop through the dream sequence, the line between reality and imagination grows thinner.
Shot with her then-partner Alexander Hamid, the film was originally silent until 1959, when Deren's second partner Teiji Ito added a haunting score that deepened its dreamlike atmosphere. The way it transforms domestic spaces into psychological landscapes influenced generations of filmmakers, from Lynch to Kubrick.
17
Meshes of the Afternoon
Maya Deren
·
14 minutes
·
1942
Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), made for just $275, stands as an one of the most influential avant-garde films. A woman (played by Deren) encounters a mysterious figure with a mirror for a face, while ordinary objects - keys, knives, phones - take on unsettling symbolic weight. With each loop through the dream sequence, the line between reality and imagination grows thinner.
Shot with her then-partner Alexander Hamid, the film was originally silent until 1959, when Deren's second partner Teiji Ito added a haunting score that deepened its dreamlike atmosphere. The way it transforms domestic spaces into psychological landscapes influenced generations of filmmakers, from Lynch to Kubrick.
18
What Did Jack Do?
David Lynch
20 min
·
2017
What Did Jack Do? is Lynch's typically bizarre take on film noir, casting himself as a hardboiled detective interrogating a monkey about murder in a case involving a chicken femme fatale. Shot in grainy black and white with simulated film scratches, it feels like found footage. The setting—a desolate train station diner—amplifies the bleak atmosphere.
Lynch voices Jack (the monkey) himself, creating an unsettling self-interrogation. He weaves in McCarthy-era paranoia ("Are you now, or have you ever been a card-carrying member of the Communist Party?") between deliberately nonsensical exchanges and bizarre non-sequiturs. The film culminates in a musical number that serves as a distinctly Lynchian parody, with Lynch maintaining complete sincerity throughout.
18
What Did Jack Do?
David Lynch
20 min
·
2017
What Did Jack Do? is Lynch's typically bizarre take on film noir, casting himself as a hardboiled detective interrogating a monkey about murder in a case involving a chicken femme fatale. Shot in grainy black and white with simulated film scratches, it feels like found footage. The setting—a desolate train station diner—amplifies the bleak atmosphere.
Lynch voices Jack (the monkey) himself, creating an unsettling self-interrogation. He weaves in McCarthy-era paranoia ("Are you now, or have you ever been a card-carrying member of the Communist Party?") between deliberately nonsensical exchanges and bizarre non-sequiturs. The film culminates in a musical number that serves as a distinctly Lynchian parody, with Lynch maintaining complete sincerity throughout.
18
What Did Jack Do?
David Lynch
·
20 min
·
2017
What Did Jack Do? is Lynch's typically bizarre take on film noir, casting himself as a hardboiled detective interrogating a monkey about murder in a case involving a chicken femme fatale. Shot in grainy black and white with simulated film scratches, it feels like found footage. The setting—a desolate train station diner—amplifies the bleak atmosphere.
Lynch voices Jack (the monkey) himself, creating an unsettling self-interrogation. He weaves in McCarthy-era paranoia ("Are you now, or have you ever been a card-carrying member of the Communist Party?") between deliberately nonsensical exchanges and bizarre non-sequiturs. The film culminates in a musical number that serves as a distinctly Lynchian parody, with Lynch maintaining complete sincerity throughout.
19
Shiva Baby
Emma Seligman
8 min
·
2018
In Shiva Baby, Danielle (Rachel Sennott) gets dragged to a shiva - a Jewish mourning ritual that's basically an anxiety attack waiting to happen. Emma Seligman turned this acclaimed NYU thesis film into a feature in 2020 (also great).
The film nails the terror of running into someone you shouldn't at a community gathering - in this case, her sugar daddy shows up among the mourners. The dialogue is savage - "You look like Gwyneth Paltrow on food stamps" ended me. And that moment when Danielle accepts condolences only to turn to her mom and whisper "Who died?"
19
Shiva Baby
Emma Seligman
8 min
·
2018
In Shiva Baby, Danielle (Rachel Sennott) gets dragged to a shiva - a Jewish mourning ritual that's basically an anxiety attack waiting to happen. Emma Seligman turned this acclaimed NYU thesis film into a feature in 2020 (also great).
The film nails the terror of running into someone you shouldn't at a community gathering - in this case, her sugar daddy shows up among the mourners. The dialogue is savage - "You look like Gwyneth Paltrow on food stamps" ended me. And that moment when Danielle accepts condolences only to turn to her mom and whisper "Who died?"
19
Shiva Baby
Emma Seligman
·
8 min
·
2018
In Shiva Baby, Danielle (Rachel Sennott) gets dragged to a shiva - a Jewish mourning ritual that's basically an anxiety attack waiting to happen. Emma Seligman turned this acclaimed NYU thesis film into a feature in 2020 (also great).
The film nails the terror of running into someone you shouldn't at a community gathering - in this case, her sugar daddy shows up among the mourners. The dialogue is savage - "You look like Gwyneth Paltrow on food stamps" ended me. And that moment when Danielle accepts condolences only to turn to her mom and whisper "Who died?"
20
Hedgehog in the Fog
Yuri Norstein
11 min
·
1975
In this celebrated animated short by Yuri Norstein, a small hedgehog's foggy journey to visit his friend, the bear, transforms into a dreamlike, evocative, and subtly unsettling experience. This whimsical journey, based on a story by Sergei Kozlov, was voted the best animated film of all time in a 2003 Tokyo contest.
A diminutive hedgehog journeys through dense fog to visit his friend Bear for tea and stargazing. His path through fields and forests becomes a surreal adventure as the fog manifests strange images: an owl by a well, a transforming snail, a giant bat, and a recurring white horse.
The hedgehog loses his raspberry jam, only to have it returned by a dog. Hearing Bear's distant calls, he hurries on, ultimately falling into a river.
20
Hedgehog in the Fog
Yuri Norstein
11 min
·
1975
In this celebrated animated short by Yuri Norstein, a small hedgehog's foggy journey to visit his friend, the bear, transforms into a dreamlike, evocative, and subtly unsettling experience. This whimsical journey, based on a story by Sergei Kozlov, was voted the best animated film of all time in a 2003 Tokyo contest.
A diminutive hedgehog journeys through dense fog to visit his friend Bear for tea and stargazing. His path through fields and forests becomes a surreal adventure as the fog manifests strange images: an owl by a well, a transforming snail, a giant bat, and a recurring white horse.
The hedgehog loses his raspberry jam, only to have it returned by a dog. Hearing Bear's distant calls, he hurries on, ultimately falling into a river.
20
Hedgehog in the Fog
Yuri Norstein
·
11 min
·
1975
In this celebrated animated short by Yuri Norstein, a small hedgehog's foggy journey to visit his friend, the bear, transforms into a dreamlike, evocative, and subtly unsettling experience. This whimsical journey, based on a story by Sergei Kozlov, was voted the best animated film of all time in a 2003 Tokyo contest.
A diminutive hedgehog journeys through dense fog to visit his friend Bear for tea and stargazing. His path through fields and forests becomes a surreal adventure as the fog manifests strange images: an owl by a well, a transforming snail, a giant bat, and a recurring white horse.
The hedgehog loses his raspberry jam, only to have it returned by a dog. Hearing Bear's distant calls, he hurries on, ultimately falling into a river.
More great short films, longer than 20 minutes.
Between Scenes
Subscribe to my monthly newsletter, which covers films I've watched, articles I've written, and what's next on my list.
Website
Elsewhere
Between Scenes
Subscribe to my monthly newsletter, which covers films I've watched, articles I've written, and what's next on my list.