Announcements Aplenty!

📅 This Week on Short of the Week

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Before we get to this year’s Sundance, we’ll recommend this short from Luis Fernando Puente which was a favorite from last year’s edition. Immigration stories are on the uptick and this one especially resonated with Céline who notes in her review that “what really struck me in his film is the authenticity and how it didn’t need to rely on an antagonistic immigration officer to land its impact. Instead, it shows how the situation and the process themselves are already hard to deal with, and how every interaction with an official has the potential to completely change your life, in a good or bad way."

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I wrote about this striking short from Texas filmmaker Erica Alexandria Silverman, which is based on her personal family experience. Despite her closeness to the material, the intimacy of the verité photography style, the use of first-time actors, and more than anything the clear-eyed empathy the film has towards its characters on the margins of society made me strongly recall the work of Sean Baker. A breakthrough for Silverman and a film that, by all rights, should be star-making for its lead actor, Violet Brinson.

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Closing out our trio of films this week is another work drawn from personal experience. Alum Daniel Jaffe partners with Michelle Uranowitz to dramatize an event from her life working retail. “We wanted to dig into the factors that hold us back from stepping into an uncomfortable situation, and how we become complicit bystanders in circumstances like assault”, the directors shared with us, and Céline praises the editing for its role in executing a mid-film “tonal shift” that we found quite impressive.

👣 Oscars Take Their Next Step

We were up early on Tuesday to listen for the Academy’s announcement of the nominees and so were Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó! The stars of Sean Wang’s short documentary became the unexpected stars of the whole nominee announcement process as this video of the charming grandmas learning the good news went viral across social media.

45 films that were in the running from the shortlist are now 15. We rounded up the nominees on both Short of the Week and via a collection on Shortverse.

How did our recommendations to the Academy do? Not so well! Only 5 out of 15 made it, though our personal favorites in all three categories are still alive. I put sentiment aside in my last-minute predictions on what I thought the Academy might choose and was pleased to go 4/5 in both Animation and Live-Action.

Unfortunately, a handful of the films that were available online during the Shortlist process were removed from the internet after the announcement. But, we will be in touch with the teams in the coming weeks as history suggests they may want to do one more online push in the lead-up to the big vote. 🤞🏼

Today on Short of the Week Rob dropped the latest in our ongoing The Importance Of… series which highlights notable talents in short film who don’t occupy the director’s chair.

While Alexander Farah is a director too, Rob spoke to him in the context of his work as an editor, having cut films for star filmmakers like Minhal Baig and David Findlay. Editing was Farah’s entry into filmmaking, as early on he recognized that “The simplistic act of splicing two clips together in a sequence, made me understand the editor to be a second director of sorts.”

It’s an enlightening conversation all around, so I recommend reading the whole thing on Short of the Week.

🎁 Putting a Bow Sundance

Tuesday night capped off the shorts section of the fest with the annual Shorts Awards and Party. Multi-time S/W alum, Charlotte Regan, was on the jury this year and handed out prizes to:

• The Masterpiece by Alex Lora Cercos | Grand Jury Prize

• Say Hi After You Die by Kate Jean Hollowell | Jury Award: US Fiction

• The Stag by An Chu | Jury Award: International Fiction

• Bob’s Funeral by Jack Dunphy | Jury Award: Nonfiction

• Bug Diner by Phoebe Jane Hart | Jury Award: Animation

• The Looming by Masha Ko | Special Jury Prize for Directing

• Pisko the Crab Child is in Love by Makoto Nagahisa | Special Jury Prize for Directing

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Our alums had a great fest too, none more so than Greg Jardin, whose Midnight competition film, It’s What’s Inside landed the biggest deal of the festival.

I wrote about Greg’s short FLOATING in 2014. I was familiar with Greg’s work in music videos, including his insane piece for Kina Grannis. But then, after Floating, he dropped off my radar as he pursued work in TV. Music Video producer extraordinaire Jason Baum did not forget though, as the pair reunited on this feature. DANIELS, Hiro Murai, Carlos Lopez Estrada, Melina Matsoukas—another of the 2010s music video class has broken through in Film/TV. Feels like somebody should write about this…🤔

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Finally, while most folk have gone home from the fest, Sundance Virtual is just beginning. For the next three days a ton of the competition feature films and pretty much ALL OF THE SHORTS are available for US residents to purchase an at-home ticket for. If you’re interested in the shorts we recommend these 12. As for the features, Céline was on the ground in Park City and saw a ton of them, so I asked her for her recommendations. I told her they didn’t have to be from an S/W alum, but her two favorites just happened to be from filmmakers we’ve featured anyway, including Sean Wang who with this and his Oscar nomination is having himself a week!

Dìdi (弟弟): Sean Wang is an expert at making his personal stories feel universal, we've seen it through his shorts and now in his feature debut. This film takes you down memory lane, triggering epic nostalgia—especially for anyone born between the mid-80s and mid-90s. He captures the awkwardness of being a teenager with humor and sensitivity. The perfect warm hug.

Exhibiting Forgiveness: Just like the title says, Titus Kaphar paints a beautiful and oh so poignant and compelling picture of forgiveness. This father/son drama is deeply nuanced and shows a different side of generational trauma. André Holland in the lead role is incredible and truly anchoring the narrative emotionally.

👕 Announcing New Merch + A Special Virtual Get-Together

We were long overdue for a refresh, so Andy put in the work on a new batch of Short of Week shirts, hats, and sweatshirts in a bunch of new colors! Visit shop.shortoftheweek.com to check out the wares emblazoned with our new logo, or if you prefer, the general directive we give people all the time which is “watch short films”!

For those nerdy about these things, we’ve migrated over the Shopify and have integrated the store into our YouTube channel for the first time.

Speaking of YouTube, that leads me to the next point. We’re going to hit a very big milestone very soon—1 Million Subscribers! 🎉

We want to celebrate, so the team is getting together for a special live stream on Tues, 2/5 @ 10amPT/1pmET

Join us then as we give thanks to you, our fans, as well as to the filmmakers that have helped contribute to this milestone. I’ll share more details next week, but know that we’ll be giving away a bunch of this new merch! 🥰