The 5th Short Film Hall of Fame

7 out of 11 first place votes surely has to be the highest percentage of first place votes in any hall of fame, right?

1. The House is Black
2. Hedgehog in the Fog
3. Night and Fog
4. The Heart of the World
5. Malice in Wonderland
6. Nu
7. Un Obus Partout
8. A Gun for George
9. Goodbye Mommy
10. Seven
11. Brats

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A very enjoyable Hall. Thanks to jiraffejustin for hosting and congrats to Citizen Rules for getting first place!

1. Night and Fog
2. Malice in Wonderland
3. The House Is Black
4. Hedgehog in the Fog
5. Goodbye Mommy
6. The Heart of the World
7. A Gun for George
8. Brats
9. Un obus partout
10. Seven
11. Now

i do not remember my ballot at all lmao. thanks for running this. v. good hall

Even as a bystander, how can anything possibly beat Night and Fog? It's like 30 of the most important minutes in cinema.

Just dropping this here: we should make the shorts hall of fame an ongoing thing.

Great hall, everyone!

Once I saw Night and Fog in the mix, I had no doubt that it would grab that top spot, and hopefully anyone who hasn't seen it yet will be inspired to do so.

It was really fun to have an entire hall that was so enjoyable. And even if something isn't really your thing, most of the time watching it took less time than boiling an egg.

I liked everything I watched for this, with about 3/4 of them being first-time watches.

I chose to not rank it #1 because the day after I watched it, it occurred to me that I was remembering almost nothing of the Resnais-shot portions of the film. We all respond to the stock footage of the camps, and rightly so, but Resnais didn't shoot that. As I said in my review, I've encountered this footage many times in the past separate from N&F and it was no less disturbing in the context of some 80s PBS documentary made by an unknown director. I'm being glib here to make a point, but that footage is disturbing enough that as long as you don't accompany it with a ragtime piano score your film is going to make an impact, regardless of your input. Now, I'm not implying that Resnais just threw something together. I still ranked it in the top 3 (possibly 2nd, I don't remember). I just chose to rate the movie as opposed to the importance of the footage it contained.

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Night and Fog is terrific, but I ordered my ballot from most to least favorite so, as important as Resnais' film is, it doesn't have quite the staying power that Hedgehog in the Fog and The House is Black do. I elaborated on this in my review of the short though.

I know my top 4 was The House Is Black, Night and Fog, my own nomination and Hedgehog in the Fog. Not sure what the order was others than Night and Fog #1 and mine #2.

I enjoyed this. Thanks to jiraffejustin for hosting. *I would be down for another shorts hall in the future. *And next time, I’m coming for the win!

Ha! I'd be surprised if at least 3 people here have listened to it

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This was a lot of fun indeed. Lots of weird little films that I probably wouldn't have seen any other way. Thanks to everybody.

Congrats to Citizen and thanks to jj for hosting. It's the next best thing to attending a short film festival.

I concur. I've already thought of more shorts to share/inflict upon all of you.

I know this was my feeling the first time I watched it, and was one reason I never returned to it for more than 20 years. But upon revisiting last year, obviously the found footage it still what lingers, but the methods through which Renais allows these images to unfold, his poetic narration and the modern clips putting context to what has happened here, are all essential to how the film becomes something that transcends just being a parade of horrors. It's a beautifully made film, which adds an eerie grace to the degradation it depicts. It's a poem for.the worst in us.

Life is full of choices; choices we make because we know it's right, choices others make for us, and choices we make because others expect it from us, even though we know it's wrong. The latter seems to be at the center of this short film from James Morgan.

Set in a remote Scandinavian village, Seven follows Yohana (Dagny Backer Johnsen), a young woman that has to decide the fate of a kidnapped oil worker (Nicholas Boulton). We are told that oil companies and rigs have been threatening the peace and environment of their village, and apparently a conflict of some kind resulted in the death of Yohana's father and leader of the village.

But we don't get to see any of that; just the aftermath, the moral conflict of what to do. Should we pay an eye for an eye? Are there other motives to have this outsider die? Yohana is accompanied in her task by the village elder (Trond Teigen), who begs of her to go forward: "It's important you go through with this. We need to send a message."

So the film becomes a game of choices. Choices others make for us, like the elder stepping up after the death of their leader; and choices we make because others expect it from us, like Yohana's choice to carry on this trial or not. All three of them dealing with hesitancy in the face of tough choices and unknown consequences, trying not to get lost.

This is a great short in pretty much every aspect. First of all, it is beautifully shot, with some gorgeous cinematography and skilled editing. Second, all three main performances are pretty good, with Teigen being particularly notable for me. The way he conveys strength in spite of insecurity, with a little bit of shadiness, is perfect.

I like that the short film doesn't really try to take sides. It just puts us right in the middle of this ritual, along with the characters. It's up to us to decide what we think it's right or wrong.

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