Essential Short Films
by Visionless | created - 11 Dec 2013 | updated - 11 Dec 2013 | PublicA list compiling the most lovably eye deceiving, gut wrenching and awe inspiring short films that have said more in half an hour than an entire TV series ever could.
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1. La cabina (1972 TV Movie)
35 min | Drama, Horror
A man gets trapped inside a telephone box and nobody is able to free him.
Director: Antonio Mercero | Stars: José Luis López Vázquez, Agustín González, Goyo Lebrero, Tito García
Votes: 4,568
2. Night and Fog (1956)
TV-14 | 32 min | Documentary, Short, History
The history of Nazi Germany's death camps of the Final Solution and the hellish world of dehumanization and death contained inside.
Director: Alain Resnais | Stars: Michel Bouquet, Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Hitler
Votes: 21,449
3. Six Shooter (2004)
Not Rated | 27 min | Short, Comedy, Drama
A black and bloody Irish comedy about a sad train journey where an older man, whose wife has died that morning, encounters a strange and possibly psychotic young oddball....
Director: Martin McDonagh | Stars: Brendan Gleeson, Rúaidhrí Conroy, David Wilmot, Aisling O'Sullivan
Votes: 14,307
4. The Red Balloon (1956)
Not Rated | 34 min | Short, Comedy, Drama
A red balloon with a mind of its own follows a little boy around the streets of Paris.
Director: Albert Lamorisse | Stars: Pascal Lamorisse, Sabine Lamorisse, Georges Sellier, Vladimir Popov
Votes: 20,114
5. The House of Small Cubes (2008)
Not Rated | 12 min | Animation, Short, Drama
To save his house from rising flood waters, an old man uses bricks to build it higher, then he relives events from his past while searching for his dropped pipe.
Director: Kunio Kato | Star: Masami Nagasawa
Votes: 11,645
6. Logorama (2009)
R | 16 min | Animation, Short, Action
Police chase an armed criminal in a version of Los Angeles comprised entirely of corporate logos.
Directors: François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy, Ludovic Houplain | Stars: Bob Stephenson, Sherman Augustus, Aja Evans, Joel Michaely
Votes: 6,276
7. Un chien andalou (1929)
Not Rated | 16 min | Short, Fantasy, Horror
Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Pierre Batcheff, Simone Mareuil, Luis Buñuel, Pancho Cossío
Votes: 53,784
8. The Great Train Robbery (1903)
TV-G | 11 min | Short, Action, Adventure
A group of bandits stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels.
Director: Edwin S. Porter | Stars: Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, A.C. Abadie, George Barnes, Justus D. Barnes
Votes: 20,985
9. I'm Here (2010)
31 min | Short, Drama, Romance
A young man faces the abrupt loss of his friend.
Director: Spike Jonze | Stars: Andrew Garfield, Lyle Kanouse, Nancy Munoz, Sienna Guillory
Votes: 7,933
10. La Jetée (1962)
Not Rated | 28 min | Short, Drama, Romance
The story of a man forced to explore his memories in the wake of World War III's devastation, told through still images.
Director: Chris Marker | Stars: Étienne Becker, Jean Négroni, Hélène Chatelain, Davos Hanich
Votes: 37,043
11. Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
Not Rated | 14 min | Short, Fantasy, Mystery
A woman returning home falls asleep and has vivid dreams that may or may not be happening in reality. Through repetitive images and complete mismatching of the objective view of time and space, her dark inner desires play out on-screen.
Directors: Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid | Stars: Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid
Votes: 15,196
12. Dimensions of Dialogue (1983)
12 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Three surreal depictions of failures of communication that occur on all levels of human society.
Director: Jan Svankmajer
Votes: 4,887
13. Vincent (1982)
G | 6 min | Animation, Short, Family
Young Vincent Malloy dreams of being just like Vincent Price and loses himself in macabre daydreams which annoys his mother.
Director: Tim Burton | Star: Vincent Price
Votes: 24,318
14. The Hand (1965)
18 min | Animation, Short, Horror
A delicate and secluded ceramist sees his orderly life turn upside down, when a gigantic hand in a white glove invades his space, demanding that a sculpture of itself is made. When will the hand's obstinate demands stop?
Director: Jirí Trnka
Votes: 2,046
15. A Trip to the Moon (1902)
TV-G | 13 min | Short, Action, Adventure
A group of astronomers go on an expedition to the Moon.
Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Georges Méliès, Victor André, Bleuette Bernon, Brunnet
Votes: 55,731
16. One Week (1920)
TV-G | 25 min | Short, Comedy
A newly wedded couple attempts to build a house with a prefabricated kit, unaware that a rival sabotaged the kit's component numbering.
Directors: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Sybil Seely, Joe Roberts
Votes: 9,230
17. Hedgehog in the Fog (1975)
11 min | Animation, Short, Drama
A little hedgehog, on the way to visit his friend the bear, gets lost in thick fog, where horses, dogs and even falling leaves take on a terrifying new aspect.
Director: Yuri Norstein | Stars: Vyacheslav Nevinnyy, Mariya Vinogradova, Aleksey Batalov
Votes: 8,074
18. The Tale of Tales (1979)
29 min | Animation, Short
Distant, well-worn memories of childhood are inhabited by a little gray wolf. Through astonishing imagery, the memory of all of Russia is depicted.
Director: Yuri Norstein | Star: Aleksandr Kalyagin
Votes: 4,129
19. Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993)
TV-PG | 29 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Gromit butts heads with a mysterious penguin lodger, who hatches a sinister scheme involving the ex-NASA Techno Trousers that have been modified by Wallace for walkies.
Director: Nick Park | Stars: Peter Sallis, Peter Hawkins
Votes: 57,379
20. Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out (1989)
Not Rated | 23 min | Animation, Short, Adventure
To replenish their depleted supply of cheese, inventor Wallace and his dog Gromit travel to the moon in a homemade rocket-ship.
Director: Nick Park | Stars: Peter Sallis, Peter Hawkins
Votes: 36,555
21. Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave (1995)
TV-PG | 30 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Wallace's whirlwind romance with the owner of the local wool shop puts his head in a spin; Gromit is framed for sheep-rustling in a fiendish criminal plot.
Director: Nick Park | Stars: Peter Sallis, Anne Reid, Justin Fletcher, Peter Hawkins
Votes: 43,403
22. Duck Amuck (1953)
Approved | 7 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
The short-tempered Daffy Duck must improvise madly as the backgrounds, his costumes, the soundtrack, even his physical form, shifts and changes at the whim of the animator.
Director: Chuck Jones | Star: Mel Blanc
Votes: 9,432
23. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 26 min | Animation, Comedy, Family
A grumpy hermit hatches a plan to steal Christmas from the Whos of Whoville.
Directors: Chuck Jones, Ben Washam | Stars: Boris Karloff, June Foray, Dal McKennon
Votes: 59,006
24. What's Opera, Doc? (1957)
Approved | 7 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Elmer Fudd is again hunting rabbits - only this time it's an opera. Wagner's Siegfried with Elmer as the titular hero and Bugs as Brunnhilde. They sing, they dance, they eat the scenery.
Director: Chuck Jones | Stars: Mel Blanc, Arthur Q. Bryan
Votes: 10,503
25. Harvie Krumpet (2003)
TV-14 | 23 min | Animation, Comedy, Short
The odd biography of a man who has Tourette's Syndrome, chronic bad luck, menial jobs, nudist tendencies, and a book of "fakts" hung around his neck.
Director: Adam Elliot | Stars: Geoffrey Rush, Kamahl, John Flaus, Julie Forsyth
Votes: 9,021
26. Neighbours (1952)
Not Rated | 8 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
A surreal story of two neighbours' destructive feud over a flower.
Director: Norman McLaren | Stars: Grant Munro, Jean Paul Ladouceur
Votes: 3,881
27. The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1992)
20 min | Animation, Short, Drama
The man decides to die, but falls asleep at the last moment. He dreams that he died and ended up on another planet, very similar to the Earth, but the people living here do not know sin.
Director: Aleksandr Petrov | Star: Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy
Votes: 1,223
28. The Snowman (1982 TV Movie)
G | 26 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
On Christmas Eve, a young boy builds a snowman that comes to life and takes him to the North Pole to meet Father Christmas.
Directors: Jimmy T. Murakami, Dianne Jackson | Stars: David Bowie, Raymond Briggs, Mel Smith
Votes: 16,829
29. The Sandman (1991)
10 min | Animation, Short, Fantasy
Upstairs, in the moonlit and empty room, a little boy scared of the dancing shadows, encounters a figment of his vivid imagination: the horrible Sandman.
Director: Paul Berry
Votes: 1,533
30. Rejected (2000)
Unrated | 9 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
A hilarious collection of animated television commercials that were rejected because of their creator's failing grip on sanity.
Director: Don Hertzfeldt | Stars: Robert May, Jennifer Nyholm, Don Hertzfeldt
Votes: 8,878
31. Everything Will Be Ok (2006)
17 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
A series of dark and troubling events forces Bill to reckon with the meaning of his life - or lack thereof.
Director: Don Hertzfeldt | Star: Don Hertzfeldt
Votes: 3,070
32. Cat Soup (2001)
Not Rated | 34 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
A young anthropomorphic cat goes on a psychedelic journey with his sister in order to save her soul.
Directors: Tatsuo Satô, Masaaki Yuasa
Votes: 5,945
33. The Man Who Planted Trees (1987)
30 min | Animation, Short, Drama
The story of a shepherd's single handed quest to re-forest a barren valley.
Director: Frédéric Back | Stars: Philippe Noiret, Christopher Plummer
Votes: 6,113
34. Treevenge (2008)
16 min | Short, Comedy, Horror
Christmas trees ripped out of their forest plan revenge against people enjoying the holidays.
Director: Jason Eisener | Stars: Jonathan Torrens, Sarah Dunsworth, Maris Morgan, Jayden Taylor
Votes: 2,833
35. The War Game (1963)
Not Rated | 15 min | Drama, Short, War
Two boys quarrel about a toy pistol. The game becomes serious. On the roof in a skyskraper district they risk their lifes for the toy pistol.
Director: Mai Zetterling | Stars: Ian Ellis, Joseph Robinson
Votes: 193
36. Kiwi! (2006)
TV-Y | 3 min | Animation, Short, Adventure
The story of a Kiwi who spends his whole life working towards achieving his dream.
Director: Dony Permedi | Star: Pierre Coffin
Votes: 8,703
37. For the Birds (2000)
G | 3 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
A group of snooty birds roosting on a telephone wire get their just deserts when a goofy bird drops in.
Director: Ralph Eggleston | Star: Ralph Eggleston
Votes: 33,989
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