Art of the Short Film

🔗 10 Things We’re Paying Paying Attention To

1. Exciting new A24 Trailer from S/W Alum Isaiah Saxon - Saxon, founder of the animation studio Encyclopedia Pictura, has been responsible for some of the most original MVs and shorts of the 2010s and now reveals his feature debut, a lovingly crafted coming-of-age creature feature that will recall touchstones like E.T and Gremlins. With DANIELS producer Jonathan Wang and cinematographer Evan Prosofsky on board, this is one to watch. Unfortunately, while the buzz for the trailer was largely positive, many accused the film of looking AI-generated, and the controversy became the top topic on Film Twitter this week. Saxon spent the day responding, noting that the film, “was handmade over 6 years on a $10m budget with puppets, animatronics, matte paintings, shot on location in the carpathian mountains. there is no AI in this film.” I know many of you have strong feelings about maintaining the line against the encroachment of AI in Film and TV, but let it be said that this is not the way to do it!

2. David Lowery Animated Christmas Short Gets Trailer/Date - Sticking with exciting trailers, we got our first look at a short we teased a couple of weeks ago. An Almost Christmas Story is the third and final Christmas short exec produced by Alfonso Cuaron for Disney+ and will hit the service on Nov 15th. You can catch it this weekend though at a special screening at the Animation is Film festival in Los Angeles with Lowery and Cuaron in attendance!

3. Animation Distributor GKIDS is Bought! - Just ahead of Animation is Film, which is produced by GKIDS, came the news that Japanese media giant Toho has bought the specialty distributor. GKIDS “will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Los Angeles-based Toho International.” The 92-year-old Toho is best known for being behind the Godzilla series and this move is part of a trend of Japanese companies taking increased control of their international distribution after years of outsourcing. GKIDS is famously strong in Anime but is also crucial in bringing mature animation from all over the world to America, so we hope that part of their mission does not change.

4. Anora x Kodak Host a Short Film Contest - Neon, distributor of the Palme-winning Anora in the US, is teaming up with Kodak on a short film contest. 10 filmmakers, selected based on a project brief and an optional lookbook, will have a chance to shoot a short film on film in the next couple of months. Eligibility is limited to US residents and the deadline for your treatment is Oct. 31st!

5. Vimeo to Sponsor the European Film Awards Best Short - The European Film Academy announced that their top short film prize will be renamed “EUROPEAN SHORT FILM – Prix Vimeo”. Presented since 1998, films qualify by winning a special prize at one of 28 European film festivals. In the same press release, they also shared the five shorts that made it to the nominee stage, including Wander to Wonder by alum Nina Gantz and this year’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner.

6. Sitges Announces its 2024 Winners - On the topic of European festivals, Sitges, one of the world’s foremost genre festivals, just wrapped up and here are its winners. Congrats to Eros V for taking the prestigious Méliès d'Argent Award with Meat Puppet, you can watch it on Short of the Week this upcoming Tuesday!

7. In Los Angeles? Check out PROOF Festival this Weekend - This new event celebrates its second edition starting today. The brainchild of American Cinematheque programmer Imani Davis, this novel event is centered on proof-of-concept shorts! Check the schedule here.

8. The Brothers Quay Have a New Film - I somehow missed this out of Venice where it premiered, but caught news of its recent screening at BFI London. A feature-length animation titled Sanitorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass, the film, a blend of stop-motion and live-action, was 19 years in the making and has been receiving good press. The UK-based twins are actually a pretty big blind spot in my film fandom, but I am of course aware that their short films are legendary. You can watch the trailer for this latest film on YouTube.

9. Julia Pott is Developing a New Show with Jim Henson Company - One of my favorite animators, Pott is working on a live-action kid’s show with her husband, former Disney star Raviv Ullman. Titled Paul the Bear, it’s based on shorts that Ullman created.

10. Watch Hiro Murai and Daniel Kwan in Conversation - I used to joke, circa 2013, that all the filmmakers I’d meet at Sundance wanted to get into commercials and all the commercial directors I knew asked how to get into Sundance. The music video-to-film pipeline that brought us Fincher, Gondry, and Glazer had seemingly broken down with the studios’ retreat into exclusively big-budget IP production. That’s not the case anymore though as news like that up top about Isaiah Saxon proves. I even heard that one of Rob’s favorite MV directors, Keith Schofield, has set up his feature debut. These two gentlemen (both S/W alums!) are probably the key figures leading this change and both took alternative paths to the A-list. Murai hitched his wagon to Donald Glover and directing much of Atlanta before becoming a TV powerhouse in his own right, and Kwan went the indie route, going through the Sundance Institute on the way to Oscar glory. There is a lot anyone could learn from them, so thank you to Film Independent for posting this keynote conversation from their recent forum!

📅 This Week on Short of the Week

🪐 Into the Shortverse

Doc NYC Shortlist

A sub-program of November’s big documentary festival, this film list, announced yesterday, has become an early tastemaker in the Oscar race. We have gathered the 15 films into a Shortverse collection and a couple of these are available to watch now. Additionally, the much anticipated new short from Ben Proudfoot and Short Award winner Kyle Thrash debuts on Netflix today. Educate yourself on these films, there is a good chance one of them will win the golden statuette in March.

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Three Minutes or Less

Rob has put together this fun list of short shorts culled from Shortverse, in a nice mix of S/W picks and new discoveries. Did you know that you can filter the explore page by duration?

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Indigenous Peoples’ Day

On Monday we highlighted this collection to correspond with the US holiday honoring native peoples. While specifically themed, some of these rank among our favorite shorts or recent years, full stop.