Rob Munday
With so many streaming platforms available nowadays it’s difficult to keep up with all the programs available and decide which ones are worth your time. Thankfully, our Short of the Week alums make most of these decisions for us, as we’re always eager and excited to check out the new projects from our previously featured filmmakers. With our database of directors ever-expanding, our list of titles to watch is constantly refreshing, with in mind, here are our most-recent recommendations.
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Brian and Charles
Dir. Jim Archer
Another film to add to our short films that became features article, odd couple (lonely) Brian and (robot) Charles are back for more existential adventures in the feature adaptation of Jim Archer’s 2017 short of the same name. With the core of story the same, described by Archer as “this weird relationship between a man and a robot”, the feature just premiered in the UK at Sundance London and is now set for theatrical release.
In theaters from June 17th / Jim Archer Interview
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Dashcam
Dir. Rob Savage
With director Rob Savage’s 2020 horror Host still reverberating through our very core, the upcoming British director is back with his follow-up Dashcam. The story of two friends on a horror-fueled road trip as they livestream the most terrifying night of their lives, the film played BFI London, Sitges and TIFF ahead of its release, in theaters and on demand, from June 3.
Available to Rent
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Emergency
Dir. Carey williams
With the short having won awards at both Sundance and SXSW in 2018, this feature-length adaptation from director Carey Williams means we have yet another new title to add to our Short Films that became Features article. Expanding on the concept of the short, where three college students must decide whether to call the police after unexpectedly finding an unconscious white girl in their house, Emergency is now available to view for all Amazon Prime subscribers.
Watch on Amazon Prime
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Hungry for Answers
Dir. David Freid
We don’t often get to feature food shows on these lists, but we also can’t say it totally surprised to see multi-featured filmmaker David Freid attached to this new Discovery+ show. With his previous documentaries, created under the MEL films banner, tackling a range of subjects from Melania Trump to the refugee crisis, Hungry for Answers (which Freid directs and exec-produces) promises to uncover the fascinating, essential and often untold Black stories behind American food.
Watch on Discovery+ Now
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Love Death + Robots S3
Dir. Various
The return of Netflix’s Love Death + Robots sees the streaming giant once again invest in some exciting short film directors, and some seasoned filmmakers, to wow audiences in their NSFW anthology of animated stories. Featuring S/W alums Patrick Osborne (Pearl) and Alberto Mielgo (The Windshield Wiper), alongside the likes of David Fincher and Tim Miller, this latest season of the popular show includes giant crabs, mechanized bears and alluring sirens.
Watch on Netflix / Read our Season 3 Review
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Night’s End
Dir. Jennifer Reeder
Featured on our site back in 2015, with A Million Miles Away, regular short film creator Jennifer Reeder returns to the world of features with Shudder horror Night’s End. The story of an anxious man who moves into a haunted apartment, Reeder’s latest film has been described as an ‘inventive ghost story for the video call era‘ from a ‘filmmaker of promise’.
Watch on Shudder
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Sherwood
Dir. Lewis Arnold
Having followed the work of Lewis Arnold since his days as a student of the National Film and Television School in the UK (we featured two of his NFTS shorts – Echo and Charlie Says), his rise through the world of British Television has been hugely impressive. Helming episodes on a number of high profile series, including Humans and Broadchurch (episode six of season three), more recently Arnold has turned his hand to directing all the episodes in a number of mini-series’ – Des and Time probably the most high profile of these. His latest project sees him take a prime-time spot on British TV, as he helms three episodes in the new BBC drama Sherwood.
Watch on BBC (UK only)
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The Story Won’t Die
Dir. David Henry Gerson
Having impressed the Short of the Week team with his Student Academy Award-winning short All These Voices, it’s been a while since we heard from director David Henry Gerson. Back now with an enticing feature documentary focused on a young generation of Syrian artists who use their work to protest, the film has a worldwide VOD release on June 21st.
Watch on VoD (from June 21st)
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Undone
Dir. Hisko Hulsing
With the first season of Undone garnering praise for its genre-bending, time-breaking approach, the show is back and has already been described as “phenomenal” – with “every element … honed to the point of high art” by The Guardian’s Stuart Heritage. Also back is director Hisko Hulsing (Junkyard), who directed all eight episodes of season one and now all eight of season two as well.
Watch on Amazon Prime
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We Own This City
Dir. Reinaldo Marcus Green
It’s been a busy couple of years for director Reinaldo Marcus Green. In 2018 his debut feature Monsters and Men won a Sundance prize for Outstanding First Feature, in 2019 he directed three episodes of popular Netflix show Topboy, before releasing his second feature Joe Bell in 2020. More recently he directed the high-profile King Richard and has just been named as the director of the upcoming Bob Marley biopic. Somehow, through all of this, he also manage to squeeze another TV show into his schedule, helming all six episodes of the HBO series We Own This City.
Watch on HBO Max
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Wyrm
Dir. Christopher Winterbauer
The third feature in this list to be adapted to a feature, Christopher Winterbauer’s Wyrm is now available in theaters and on VoD. An expansion of his 2017 short of the same name, his feature follows its titular teenage protagonist as he struggles to complete his Level One sexuality requirement (kissing).