8 Short Films We Love (And 1 We Made)

December 28th is National Short Film Day

Short films tend to get overlooked compared to their full-length counterparts, yet they possess a unique ability to tell brief, but high impact , stories that stick with you long after the credits roll. In fact, the ‘short’ medium tends to pack more of a punch when it comes to conveying a filmmaker’s poignant messages with their audience.

At Tilt, we’ve created a plethora of short form films to help our clients successfully deliver powerful comms and training messages that will win hearts and minds time and time again. In fact we know from some of our key clients that a number of the shorts we’ve created for Learning and Development, are still packing the right punch 6 years after they were created.

What is considered a short film?

How short is short? Well, there are general rules and standards of what is considered a short by the powers that be. The Academy of Motion Pictures says that it is “an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits” while Sundance Film Festival considers a short film to be up to 50 minutes long. We think if you’re getting close to the 60min mark then the ‘short film’ label isn’t appropriate. However, times are they are-a-changin’. With mainstream films getting longer and longer, what’s considered ‘short’ may change as well.

1950s ‘The Kid’ by Charlie Chaplin is 68 minutes long and, along with other similar films of that time, was considered a feature film. However, that was due to how expensive film was to produce, print, distribute and screen. They couldn’t possibly make 3.5 hour long films back then and make them profitable. It’s much more economical to make films longer these days and with cinema trips costing more the need has arisen to make it more of an event. Maybe there is an element of getting enough bang for your buck? As features get longer, will shorts also get longer? Will the Academy and other film festivals change their short film criteria? The power of of limitation breeds creativity. It’s part of what makes the short form so appealing and accessible, so our belief is that the accepted length of short film will never change.

Making Change and Moving People

In honour of this enduring film format and on a national day of celebration of it, we wanted to highlight some of our favourite short films that focus on something purposeful, something innately human. Messages that stayed with us long after our initial viewing of them. Films that embed themselves firmly into our psyches look visually stunning and have been executed with the kind of technical ability that make film gods weep.

We hope that by spotlighting the shorts on this watch list, you will be inspired to seek out more short films and appreciate their ability to tell captivating narratives and to evoke visceral reactions – sometimes in just a matter of seconds.

Get comfy and enjoy this cinematic celebration of short films.

1. Eyelash (2020)

Length: 5 minutes
Director: Jesse Lewis-Reece

What is it about?

This BAFTA nominated film is a spoken word poem that covers the experience of a young man with OCD falling in love and struggling with a relationship strained by his neurodiversity.

Why we love it

Apart from being made by a local filmmaker, which we love to see, the film is an extremely raw and powerful expression of what it’s like to live with OCD. What makes it utterly relatable to everyone is the visceral depiction of heartbreak. If you’ve made it this far without being able to identify with that then good on you!

Director Jesse Lewis-Reece has gone on to make his next short starring Peep Show actor, Robert Webb, ‘Mother of Mine’. Team Tilt recently saw it at Cinecity festival screening this Autumn. We were blown away by the amount of talent Lewis-Reece has for imbuing his films with raw emotion and ‘Eyelash’ is no exception. The performances and writing so authentically depict the effects of human tragedy and leave you with a sense that tragedy is painfully unfair and undiscriminating. ‘Eyelash’ has stuck with us for a long time.

Favourite Shot

Favourite line:

“I asked her out six times in thirty seconds.
She said yes after the third one, but none of them felt right, so I had to keep going”

2. If Anything Happens, I love you (2021)

Length: 13 minutes
Directors: Michael Govier and Will McCormack

What is it about?

Grieving parents are slowly pulled apart by their loss in this Academy Award winning (2021) short animation that has a reveal in it that adds a level of trauma and poignancy particular for American audiences.

Why we love it

Creating a film that looks and sounds beautiful, but that also has emotion laid into it so deeply it can change attitudes and behaviours with one viewing, is something we strive for at Tilt. So when we saw ‘If Anything Happens, I Love You’ for the first time, we were knocked out. To successfully deliver such a range of complex emotions and thoughtful challenges in such a short amount of time is a huge accomplishment.

Without wanting to spoil it for you, the themes in the film have been particularly challenging politically for American audiences and it has faced backlash and celebration in almost equal measure. We’re not afraid of a bit of backlash for presenting challenging ideas and so we commend the filmmakers for doing something brave in such a beautiful way.

Favourite Shot

3. Kama’aina (2020)

Length: 17 minutes
Director: Kimo Lee

What is it about?

A 16 year old faces life on the streets of O’ahu, Hawaii, after escaping life with an abusive stepfather. She eventually comes across a community that could promise her a better, safer home.

Why we love it

Finding your place in the world and your tribe or community, is a journey we all start to take from our teenage years. If we’re lucky, we’re safe and provided for depending on our circumstances and place in the world. Kama’aina (Child of the Land) raises awareness at how quickly circumstances can go wrong for vulnerable people.

The real world community of Pu?uhonua O Wai?anae features in this short as a safe haven and a new start for the young protagonist. Learning more about Pu?uhonua O Wai?anae we’re shown through narrative form the importance of real, community-led refuges that allow space and connection for those people seeking healing and new start.

Favourite Shot

Favourite line

“This is a mission I need to complete. To help all people”

4. The Swimming Club (2018)

Length: 9 minutes
Directors: Ceci Golding and Nick Finegan

What is it about?

A documentary short about a trans swimming club that shows how swimming freely together benefits their physical and mental health as well as taking control of the narrative surrounding trans people.

Why we love it

The Swimming Club authentically portrays the lives of transgender people. It shows transgender bodies that mainstream media rarely represents. When diversity and inclusion are lacking in films, it can isolate and “other” people, erecting barriers between us. This movie helps break down those barriers by evoking empathy in viewers.

Empathy is a powerful force, yet sometimes in short supply in today’s society. We appreciate how the film uses the shared joy of an activity as universal as swimming to spread a message of human connection, no matter who you are.

Favourite Shot

Favourite line

“Because of the way people see us, a lot of us experience depression, anxiety and that’s not because we’re trans, that’s all because we just want to feel safe”

5. Come Together (2016)

Length: 4 minutes
Director: Wes Anderson

What is it about?

11 and a half hour train delay means passengers’ Christmas plans are very much cancelled. What are they to do?!

Why we love it

It’s an example of a huge brand nailing the use of a big name director to hit all of the Christmas communication boxes of style, quirk, heart and humour. Advertisers embracing the conventions of film narrative and storytelling see positive impacts to their sales and brand affinity and we bet their marketing and brand teams have a tonne more fun themselves.

Also, we love Adrian Brody. Fact.

Favourite Shot

Favourite line

“…we’ve been redirected to alternate tracks and will therefore be delayed an additional 11 and a half hours”

6. Mother (2023)

Length: 6.5 minutes
Director: Lester Jones

What is it about?

‘Mother Earth’ ages alongside her environment, her weathered face mirroring the cracks forming across the barren earth. This narrative art film uses the ageing visage of a woman as a metaphor for the planet’s slow decay under the unrelenting pressure of climate change.

Why we love it

We love the visual representation of a woman, a mother, experiencing the destruction of the world water supply as if it was her own destruction.

Environmental impact is something we’re very concerned with both as an agency as individuals and so any film effective at driving home the level of damage we’re looking and moving people to take action is good in our books.

Favourite Shot

Favourite line

“They have betrayed the heart that held and loved them”

7. Rubbish Shoes (2023)

Length: 4 minutes
Director: Sam Rowland-Le

What is it about?

A short look at the impact of running shoes on the planet. How the lack of plan for what happens after they’ve been used after 6 months or 300 miles means they will fester in landfill for over 1000 years.

Why we love it?

As an active bunch, the facts and how they were presented in this short film really had us shocked. There’s nothing better than seeing a passionate and dedicated person try against the odds and the big dogs to make change.

What’s even better is the creative ingenuity on display. A great purpose, a compellingly composed visual and a strong message to people to understand the real impact of their purchases.

Favourite shot:

Favourite Line

“This shoe, it will be a thousands years before it even starts to break down”

8. World of Tomorrow (2016)

Length: 17 minutes
Director: Don Hertzfeldt

What is it about?

Academy Award nominee for best animated short film, World of Tomorrow sees a little girl pulled through time and space by a clone of herself who comes with an important message.Yup. It’s as mind bending as it sounds, but what more do you expect from Don Hertzfeldt?

Why we love it

It’s pure visionary level, future thinking genius from one of the most unique creative brains alive. For all its humour and quirk, it is also brilliantly effective at delivering emotional gut punches as well as mind meltingly thought provoking lines that will have you lying awake at night contemplating what the future could look like.

Specifically we love how it makes you consider your own future descendants and how your choices now will affect those generations to come. In a world facing climate destruction it’s a particularly poignant message.

Favourite shot

Favourite line

“The things about the present, Emily Prime, is that you can only appreciate it when it is the past”

9. (The Lost Found) Boy Man Bunny (2022)

Length: 25 Minutes
Director: Dan Ifans – Tilt’s Head of Film

What is it about?

What happens when you take an abandoned Brazilian street kid from the favelas of Salvador, and drop him into privileged English society? Three decades later, Pablo is still trying to figure things out.

How we found the story

Off the back of our 2017 short I Shot Einstein, — featuring local veteran photojournalist, Marilyn Stafford, we’d been keeping our eyes peeled for someone else interesting in the Brighton neighbourhood to go out and film. Dan’s partner suggested he talk to The Disco Bunny — an unusual street performer, who was gathering a bit of buzz on social media.

Read more about its creation.

Favourite Shot

Favourite Line

“Look up in the sky. You see a plane, and the plane is like the claw. It comes down and it takes a child… that child could be your best friend… and, they’ve gone, never to be seen again. Where did they go? I just don’t understand … But I want to go on the plane”

Use short film to change attitudes, behaviours and hearts and minds, get in touch!

Cannes Corporate Film Awards – Best Director and Gold ‘CSR’ and Silver in ‘Integrated Communication’.