Short of the Week
As November draws to an end, we’ve got one eye on awards season here at Short of the Week and that was reflected in our coverage, with a number of award hopefuls released this month and more to come in December.
While these prize-givings allow a time to reflect on the outstanding work emerging from the short film world, there was also plenty to celebrate on S/W throughout the 30-days of November as we finally paid tribute to the work of visionary Dutch director Rosto, talked to the ever-generous Festival Director of the Manchester Animation Festival, Steve Henderson, and helped launch a competition with candy giant M&M’s. – Rob Munday, Managing Editor.
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Team Favorites
With 19 shorts featured on our pages throughout the month, there was also an eclectic mix of entertaining, insightful and impactful shorts to watch including: an inventive animation on compulsive hair pulling, an unforgettable tale of college hazing and of course, a singing worm. However, the three films picked by our team as ‘Best of the Month’ are in many ways the perfect trio, sporting a live-action drama, an important documentary and a crazy animation. What more could you ask for in just over 40-minutes?
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Crack Shot by Alex Cohen
Alex Cohen’s gripping short Crack Shot is the tale of a troubled young squash player, Justin, who has somewhat of a love/hate relationship with the sport and has turned to coaching young players instead of competing. Pairing the intensity of the game, with a tension-filled storyline centred around themes of ambition, aggression and pushy fathers, Cohen’s kinetic short is a love letter to the sport and a damn entertaining watch.
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Cuties by Theo W. Scott
From Darwin to Dawkins, much has already been said about human evolution, but, as we find ourselves at a point in our timeline where war and climate change continuously threatens our future, should we now not be thinking about the years to come, instead of those that have passed? In Theo W. Scott’s provocative animated short Cuties, the director takes us on a whirlwind tour of humanity’s history, before thrusting us headfirst into a twisted vision of a possible future.
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Puffling by Jessica Bishopp
In just over 20-minutes, Bishopp manages to tie the future of the humans, wildlife and nature in her film together, exploring how they will all have to face climate change in a subtle yet effective way. The film remains quiet, and observational for most of its runtime, inviting the audience to be part of the rescue patrol action for that one night.
Shortverse Best of the Month
Over on Shortverse, our team picked 10 shorts as our Best of the Month selections for November 2023, including a couple of short docs hoping to make the Oscar shortlist, Apple’s excellent new Christmas ad and the recent Best in Show winner from Siggraph 2023.