Life & Society

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.

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.

A recent Oscar nominee, an absurd crime reveals itself as a poignant ritual for a family in post-Chernobyl Ukraine

40 years ago a 14-year old Beatle fan edged his way in to see John Lennon and recorded this exchange covering topics still eerily relevant today.

Beautiful yet brash poetry of Canadian Al Purdy colorfully animated with crude painting and yellow flowers

What we see as centuries of progress—two rocks see as just another passing afternoon.

In this Oscar-nominated short film a young boy is caught on the wrong side of the India-Pakistani border. The film presents the common humanity on both sides as well as the danger in the middle.

The humorous requests received at a photographic archive are the fodder for this splendid animation.

Looking for shortcuts past traffic, Christine and Leo both drove into an alleyway, only to find themselves stranded in an absurd concrete jungle.

Catching a pretty young shoplifter, a security guard must choose between compassion and what is right.

Disturbing look at the frustrations against nameless aggression set in the UK suburbs.

Rollicking period-spoof tells the untold tales of the Wright Brothers—airplane inventors and adventurers extraordinaire! First ep of a series.

Shot by cell-phone on the streets of New York and Sydney, Mankind is no Island stitches together words from posters, displays and street signs—to create a poem of breathtaking beauty and emotion.

A man serially obsessed with faking his own death, sires a son who destroys most of the world, but this son, along with his wife, (the greatest swordsperson in the world), rises up against the totalitarian regime that’s emerges from the wreckage. It sounds like a mess, but its good!

The Internets Celebrities Dallas Penn and Rafi Kam go in for an investigative report on Check-Cashing. Themes explored include usury, economic instability, commercial banks and their profit line, and the cycle of poverty.

From post-communist Germany comes this remarkable social experiment that serves as an allegory in explaining the fall of Soviet communism—all without uttering a single word.

Guy Maddin uses the chaotic format of an old Russian propaganda film to tell a symbolic story about science, love, and the heart of the world.

Quirky, animated film from RISD student, Lizzi Akana, takes us into a bizarre world where despondent characters lack crucial features and monkeys strut with balloon heads.

Ambient sounds and near-abstract close-ups provide our window into the community rituals of a fourteen year-old girl’s birthday to a surprising end.

A mix of science fiction and realism like no other—with social commentary to boot—from the director of the upcoming Halo movie.

A Tuesday morning arrives just like any other Tuesday in this slow and mesmerizing hand-drawn film.

An angelic DJ is sent to remix a series of unfortunate events with the use of his trusty wheels of steel.

Marking the beginning of Nick Park’s career (creator of Wallace & Gromit), this film features a cast of zoo animals discussing their living conditions. Did I mention it was nominated for an Oscar?