Welcome to the new Short of the Week! Looks familiar… yet different. Is this just a visual refresh? No. We’ve actually made a number of functional updates that’ll allow us to publish interesting content in new ways. Some of the new features we’re excited about are:

Homepage—We publish a lot more content today than we did a year ago which is great for those who follow everything we post. But for those looking for just the latest and greatest, we’ve built a rotating billboard on our homepage that highlights the latest films and articles that we deem as “can’t miss.”

Search—Now it’s actually useful. As other WordPress users will know, the standard wordpress search is as helpful as soggy bread. We’re now using Relevanssi to surface accurate results for searches, and the search box is always accessible at the top right of every page. Try it »

Playlists—They’re some of our most popular posts and the most fun for us to put together, so we’ve given them a proper spot on the site. This is where we collect a group of films around a theme like the Top 10 of the Year, the Best Female Animators, and Films About Fathers. Browse what we have today under Playlists and look for more coming soon. If you have an idea for a great playlist, send us a message, and we’ll give you a proper shout out.

Collections—We love to categorize films. We think it makes browsing fun and purposeful. So in addition to our genre, topic, and style categories we’ve added a new catch-all category called Collections. You can now browse films based on interesting aspects like camera type (35mm, HDSLR, RED) or appearance in major festivals (Sundance, Tribeca, Cannes) all from our Film Directory page »

Everything—Browse through every post we’ve ever published in reverse chronological order. Great if you haven’t been to the site in awhile and need to catch up on what you’ve missed. Try it »

And there are many more details we think you’re going to appreciate.

Short of the Week is a ongoing experiment. It began with a passion for discovering innovative storytelling, but it’s been fueled by you—an international community of filmmakers, audiences, and fans. Some told us the previous site was just fine, and it was. But it’s not in our nature to stay still. We always want to do better—knowing you’ll appreciate the thought and craft we put into what we create.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll continue to work out kinks and make minor adjustments, so please let us know if you find something broken or out of place. Cheers! and once again, welcome.