Jason Sondhi


Like so many cinema-bloggers, Sondhi fancies himself an artist, but finds that he wears the hat of critic so much more easily. Sondhi brings to Short of the Week his writing skills and "triple threat" capabilities; approaching films from the perspective of an uber-fan, knowledgeable film academic, and sometimes filmmaker. His tendency to over-think his film criticisms is due to a background in Philosophy, but he is putting useless intellectualizing aside for this site, and is focusing on putting it to good use through a series of academic articles on Anime.

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SOTW | September 2, 2010

SotW Arrives on Facebook

Short of the Week is now rockin’ it like 2009! Visit our new Facebook page and click the “like” button to get our curated short film selections right in your…

Mei Ling 2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 52 votes, average: 4.00 out of 52 votes, average: 4.00 out of 52 votes, average: 4.00 out of 52 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5

Fantasy about  Growth in  Animation
August 31, 2010

Nostalgic yet dark, sexy but absurd, this lovely and unique animation about a young Hong Kong girl, her oft-absent lover and a jealous octopus slowly wraps its tentacles around you.

Short of the Moment | August 24, 2010 | 3 Comments

Kon Satoshi: Good Morning; Magnetic Rose

Word arrived Stateside this morning, not through any official announcement, but through the tweets of his friends and collaborators. Kon Satoshi, one of the leading lights of Anime, director of…

Short of the Moment | August 18, 2010 | 1 Comment

The Banker


You don’t come across the winners of big, big awards on online sojourns often. DVD compilations and the omnipresent Shorts International seem to suck them up. I consider BAFTA to…

Avatar Days 5 votes, average: 3.80 out of 55 votes, average: 3.80 out of 55 votes, average: 3.80 out of 55 votes, average: 3.80 out of 55 votes, average: 3.80 out of 5

Documentary about  Life & Society in  Special FX
August 10, 2010

What if fantasy characters from World of Warcraft existed in our world? That’s what this documentary from Dublin explores, and I in turn explore how the film is perfect representative of short film today.

News | August 5, 2010

Short Film Articles in NyTimes, Slate

It’s fun when mainstream sites do pieces on short film, and in a rare treat, two such articles were published online today. First up is a brief article and slideshow…

Q&A | July 18, 2010 | 1 Comment

10 Questions w/ “Reign of Death” Dir: Matthew Savage

Reign of Death, the subject of our recent feature review, is one of the most confidently stylish shorts we’ve seen in a while. Its director, Matthew Savage, has served as…

Announcement | July 9, 2010 | 1 Comment

Fluxus 2010 Online Film Fest

Just stumbled upon something really cool by complete accident! Maybe I should be ashamed to call myself an <ahem> “short film expert” and not have heard of this since it’s…

Reign of Death 12 votes, average: 3.83 out of 512 votes, average: 3.83 out of 512 votes, average: 3.83 out of 512 votes, average: 3.83 out of 512 votes, average: 3.83 out of 5

Film Noir about  Crime in  Special FX
July 7, 2010

1940′s visual styling combines with a futuristic setting in this sci-fi take on the hardboiled gumshoe. Now in development as a feature.

Crossbow 5 votes, average: 4.60 out of 55 votes, average: 4.60 out of 55 votes, average: 4.60 out of 55 votes, average: 4.60 out of 55 votes, average: 4.60 out of 5

Drama about  Childhood in  Live-Action
June 29, 2010

A stylish and meditative film centering on the unhappy life of a neglected teen, told from the perspective of his neighbor who attempts to make sense of him

The Un-Gone 19 votes, average: 4.42 out of 519 votes, average: 4.42 out of 519 votes, average: 4.42 out of 519 votes, average: 4.42 out of 519 votes, average: 4.42 out of 5

Sci-Fi about  Life & Society in  Live-Action
June 14, 2010

Beam me up! Transporters are a reality in this spare, realistic sci-fi short. However they are not perfect, as one man is about to find out.

Short of the Moment | June 9, 2010 | 2 Comments

The Silence Beneath the Bark

It’s almost summer, and we’re heading into the thick of the festival season. A pretty big one just wrapped up in Toronto over the weekend, the Worldwide Short Film Festival,…

Short of the Moment | June 9, 2010 | 1 Comment

Hillcoat’s Red Dead Redemption Machinima

To keep you abreast of notable developments in the world of short film, I’ll weigh in on what has become a well-reported event on the internets—on Monday IGN released on…

Elevated 5 votes, average: 3.80 out of 55 votes, average: 3.80 out of 55 votes, average: 3.80 out of 55 votes, average: 3.80 out of 55 votes, average: 3.80 out of 5

Thriller about  Desperation in  Live-Action
June 8, 2010

A taut horror-thriller set entirely within an elevator, this short film from Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice), is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Filmmaker Update | May 28, 2010

Papiroflexia

I was catching up on some back catalog in the YouTube Screening Room this week when I stumbled upon this brief under-3 minute gem. The category of this post is ‘Filmmaker…

Short of the Moment | May 27, 2010 | 5 Comments

The Raven

We’ve been taking it easy the last month, but we’re ready to kick it into high gear again with quality recommends. First though I want to weigh in on a…

Short of the Moment | May 26, 2010

A Letter to Uncle Boonmee

I’ll be upfront, this is not a free film. It is available for $1 from Mubi, the new name of the website “The Auteurs”,  a nice service which fills a…

Gala 4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 54 votes, average: 3.75 out of 54 votes, average: 3.75 out of 54 votes, average: 3.75 out of 54 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5

Action about  Growth in  Anime
May 24, 2010

A giant object falls from the sky sending a small village into turmoil. But these villagers don’t seem normal! Nor is the object for the matter! A visual and intellectual Anime treat from the “Genius Party” collection.

Announcement | May 4, 2010 | 2 Comments

6th NFB Online Short Film Competition at Cannes

Continuing what has become a beloved tradition, today kicked off the National Film Board of Canada’s Online Short Film Contest. We let you know about it last year too, but if…

Short of the Moment | April 29, 2010 | 3 Comments

The Return of John Frum

A really exciting independent student animation, creator Christian Schlaeffer managed to find the geek buttons hidden somewhere on my body and hit them so hard that they overrode my brain—which…

The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9 3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 53 votes, average: 4.67 out of 53 votes, average: 4.67 out of 53 votes, average: 4.67 out of 53 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5

Dark Comedy about  Other Worlds in  Flash Animation
April 27, 2010

A grizzled spaceman comes to Alpha-9 to hunt down a vicious monster

Short of the Moment | April 21, 2010 | 3 Comments

Dinosaur Curtains

I have to imagine you all are getting a bit tired of these overly short films I keep highlighting. Let’s see…1, 2, 3…by my count this is the 7th(!) of…

Filmmaker Update | April 14, 2010

Night Mayor

I show Canada to itself, the sum of ordinary things, ordinary things made miraculous!
Canada’s own Guy Maddin is delightfully weird. He is one of few successful feature filmmakers to…

Plastic Bag 10 votes, average: 4.80 out of 510 votes, average: 4.80 out of 510 votes, average: 4.80 out of 510 votes, average: 4.80 out of 510 votes, average: 4.80 out of 5

Drama about  Nature in  Live-Action
April 12, 2010

Werner Herzog gives voice to a plastic bag’s existential crisis. A very unique and powerful filmmaking statement by celebrated director Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart).

SOTW | April 8, 2010

Updating the Archive

Going to embark on some overdue maintenance over the next week or two. Mainly we’ll be updating broken links. If you’ve noticed past entries that no longer connect to video,…