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Some time ago, I made an effort to expand the number of short films I've seen. Aside from having watched some well‐known classics, I felt the short film format was one I had barely scratched the surface of. After asking for recommendations from a handful of people, watching as much short films as possible from a few decently sized lists I came across, and exhausting the filmography of a handful of filmmakers who largely specialize in short films (even though I typically don't like to do this), I now feel pretty confident with publishing this.
The main hurdle I had to jump over was, though I knew some well‐known classics would inevitably make this list, I also wanted to have a decently high number of surprises throughout it as well, even in the top 20. To achieve this, I kept making efforts to delve deeper into obscure/international releases until I felt confident with my choices, while simultaneously making sure not to hand out high ratings to obscure short films just for the sake of it.
Another big hurdle I ran into when I started was determining how short a film has to be for it to quality as a short film. Some people define a short film as 30 minutes or less, while the Academy defines short films as 40 minutes or less (credits included). I've also seen some people count all films under an hour as short films. In short (heh), I don't think there's a single, universally accepted definition which everyone will agree on. After looking through the pool of films I wanted to give recognition to, I ultimately decided I was most comfortable with 45 minutes or less.
Almost everything in this list can be watched for free on YouTube, but a few films might be harder to track down. Let me know if you need any help.
The main hurdle I had to jump over was, though I knew some well‐known classics would inevitably make this list, I also wanted to have a decently high number of surprises throughout it as well, even in the top 20. To achieve this, I kept making efforts to delve deeper into obscure/international releases until I felt confident with my choices, while simultaneously making sure not to hand out high ratings to obscure short films just for the sake of it.
Another big hurdle I ran into when I started was determining how short a film has to be for it to quality as a short film. Some people define a short film as 30 minutes or less, while the Academy defines short films as 40 minutes or less (credits included). I've also seen some people count all films under an hour as short films. In short (heh), I don't think there's a single, universally accepted definition which everyone will agree on. After looking through the pool of films I wanted to give recognition to, I ultimately decided I was most comfortable with 45 minutes or less.
Almost everything in this list can be watched for free on YouTube, but a few films might be harder to track down. Let me know if you need any help.
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