Programmers’ Picks: Our favorite short films
Short films often have the biggest heart. They’re also the hardest to sort through since they don’t come with the reviews and accolades of the features. So to help you navigate this year’s shorts programs, here are some favorites from members of our programming team.
Christina Ree
THE LINE
Intimate, domestic, and scary without anything but our imaginations and lots of cinematic and social fears built into every whipsmart moment between a lonely Korean housewife and troubled schoolboy.
Plays in SHORTS: AIGOOOOOOOOOO!
GRAVE GOODS
Hording, X-ray vision, an immigrant grandma’s impish dreams — all brought to life with curious detail in this refreshing alternative take on biography and the special power of objects.
Plays in SHORTS: CURSES IN CURSIVE
HOW I LEARNED TO TELL A LIE
Beautifully expansive, provocative film that follows one Taiwanese child’s headfirst entanglement with moral coordinates that get twisted anamorphically before our very eyes.
Plays in SHORTS: BAD EDUCATION and precedes A BREATH FROM THE BOTTOM
Eric Lallana
MORE THAN TWO HOURS
With the healthcare debate currently on the front pages in the U.S., this film highlights the difficulty of obtaining medical procedures anonymously in Iran.
Plays in SHORTS: CLEARING CUSTOMS
HOW I LEARNED TO TELL A LIE
This film stands out amongst generation gap films we have this year, as we see a young boy respond to all the adults behaving badly around him.
Plays in SHORTS: BAD EDUCATION and precedes A BREATH FROM THE BOTTOM
NO LONGER THERE
Touching sci-fi drama of a young man’s fantastical imaginations on the lives of patients who receive his artificial teeth.
Plays in SHORTS: ALL OUT OF LOVE
Joseph Mangat
NIGHT FALLS ON GLASS
What appears to be a simple portrait of Vancouver skyscrapers is actually an exquisitely crafted study in texture, light, and motion.
Precedes 36
MEMORY BLOCKS
A film by youth, for youth, about youth and spells y-o-u-t-h with a capital FRESH.
Plays in SHORTS: CLEARING CUSTOMS
THE LINE
Pure filmic pleasure! Frightening, tense and smart – a la Hitchcock and Polanski.
Plays in SHORTS: AIGOOOOOOOOOO!
James Paguyo
MORE THAN TWO HOURS
A young Iranian couple searches for help while in a place where nobody can help them. Gripping, tense, and altogether fascinating.
Plays in SHORTS: CLEARING CUSTOMS
LITTLE MAO
You can’t go wrong with a little boy who emulates Chairman Mao and ruthlessly reigns over his little league team.
Plays in SHORTS FOR SHORTIES!
PLAN B
Randall Park at his best, always able to find that balance between slightly offensive and ridiculously hilarious.
Plays in SHORTS: ALL OUT OF LOVE
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