To Get Some Reciprocity

Author

Jason Sondhi
April 12, 2025

Happy Saturday. Drama in the global economy dominated all else this week, and, as with everything, there is a film angle. Despite the new US tariffs being on physical goods, there are reasons for the film industry to be concerned: increases in the cost of production materials, reciprocal tariffs on entertainment products, and the simple threat of a recession could wreak havoc on an industry yet to fully bounce back from Covid and the strikes. Meanwhile, the MPA, DGA, and IATSE are seizing the moment to go on the offensive, lobbying against “unfair screen practices” in other countries. ay yay yay.

In this newsletter you’ll find:

  • 10 things that caught our attention, including Cannes features, a smart brand campaign using shorts, Docs vs. DOGE, and the Black Mirror x Short of the Week connection.

  • A quick roundup of cool opportunities for short filmmakers to apply to.

  • The latest Short of the Week official selections.

  • Two collections on Shortverse—one acknowledging the triumph of Minecraft in theaters and a quick spotlight on a golden generation of animators coming out of Hungary.

🔗 10 Things We’re Paying Attention To

  1. Kodama: Explained - Our original video series, Short Film Explained, rumbles on. Rob interviews Brian Tang about his modern samurai SWAT short that attracted the attention of the Russo Bros.

  2. Cannes Announces Feature Lineup - Shorts arrive next week, but the starry feature lineup is here and fresh talents familiar to short film fans are well-represented. In Un Certain Regard: Akinola Davies Jr. (2021 Sundance-winner, Lizard), Diego Céspedes (The Summer of the Electric Lion, Melting Creatures), Harry Lighton (Wren Boys), and S/W alum Charlie Polinger (A Place to Stay, Fuck Me Richard). S/W fans will also recognize Michael Covino and Kyle Marvin (The Climb), whose new Neon film, Splitsville, is in Premieres.

  3. More Award Season News - Just when you thought we were safe from national film awards, the Canadian Screen Awards announced its nominees. Love that Canada has a short film acting award! Congrats to alum Matthew Rankin, who cleaned up on the feature side with Universal Language.

  4. Documentary Orgs Sign Letter Against DOGE Cuts - The IDA, Women Make Movies, and others have called out cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities. In addition to cutting future grants, the Trump admin is clawing back funds awarded under Biden. Alongside threats to the NPR and PBS, documentary production in the US is under threat. Filmmaker Mag has the details.

  5. Andrew Scott Reviews Short Films for Irish Whiskey Brand - I love this campaign! Rather than run a contest or produce original shorts, the Redbreast has hired Andrew Scott to unearth and appreciate existing work. The first stop was at SXSW where Alexander Farah’s award-winning short received praise from the Ripley actor.

  1. Stunt Artists To Be Honored at Future Oscars - The Academy is creating a new award, Achievement in Stunt Design to their annual awards. Kudos to film writer Brandon Streussnig, whose Stunt Awards in Vulture surely helped inspire this overdue move.

  2. Op/Ed on the Future of DEI - Multi-time alum Mohammad Gorjestani, founder of the celebrated Bay area commercial house Even/Odd, published a piece in Ad Age (free account required), where he argues that the shedding of Diversity and Equity Initiatives from the advertising and media sectors proves how cynical and flawed they always were. He challenges the industry to do better, writing, “Agencies, brands, and studios should examine their talent pipeline, asking not just “Do we have diverse creators?” but “Are we allowing all creators the same self-determination?”

  3. YouTube is “The New King of All Media” - How big YouTube is exactly is always up for debate, as the site’s parent company doesn’t break out its financials separately. However, a new report from an influential analyst suggests that the streaming giant is on the verge of being bigger than Disney, and has still plenty of room to grow.

  4. James Cameron Talks AI - The Avatar director chats with Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth on the latter’s podcast. Cameron, who is on the board of Stability AI, made some headlines, saying that “blockbuster movies can only survive if we ‘cut the cost in half’, and that he’s exploring how AI can help without ‘laying off the staff’.

  5. Weekend Watch - We’re staying home and firing up Netflix to check out the latest season of Charlie Booker’s seminal dystopian sci-fi series Black Mirror. The short film connection? The new season has episodes directed by S/W alums Haolu Wang (The Pregnant Ground) and the directing duo US (Cautionary Tales).

🔑 Filmmaker Opps

📅 This Week on Short of the Week

Die Verdorbene (A Rotten Woman) - by Niamh Sauter-Cooke

When Alice discovers tiny mushrooms growing on her skin, life becomes a waking nightmare for the neurotic kindergarten teacher. Unable to get the support she needs from her doctor, she begins to take matters into her own hands.

Christopher at Sea by Tom CJ Brown

Christopher embarks on a transatlantic voyage as a passenger on a cargo ship. His hopes of finding out what lures so many men to sea sets him on a journey into solitude, fantasy, and obsession.

Pillow Talk by Mathilde Hauducoeur

After Margot unsuccessfully reenacts moves from her self-defense class with her boyfriend, fear rears its ugly head and she imagines the worst about her best friend Cami’s one-night stand. Together, the two women process their experiences with the intimacy that only female friendship has.

Mai Jeruom by Adjani Salmon

A mother, faced with overwhelming evidence of her son's guilt in a violent crime, is determined to cling to her belief in his innocence.

Spring Roll Dream by Mai Vu

Linh is a Vietnamese single mother who has successfully forged a life for herself and her son in America. But when her father visits from Vietnam and insists on cooking the family a traditional Vietnamese meal, Linh is confronted with the past and culture she left behind and the question of where it belongs in her family's new life.

🪐 Into the Shortverse

Every couple of years, the solipsistic film & tv industry remembers that people really like video games. Minecraft swooping in and saving the 2025 US box office, followed by this weekend’s highly anticipated S2 premiere of The Last of Us, has provided the reminder. In recognition of the moment, we’ve updated our favorite collection of short films crossed with games.

***

Looking at the Annecy lineup for June, I was just struck by the wealth of animation talent coming out of Hungary. It has a rich history in the form, but in recent years, the talent coming out of the country—particularly its Moholy-Nagy University—has been unreal. Enjoy the work of these artists who are crafting a new golden generation for their nation.

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