Short of the Week
With October usually dominated by our Halloween coverage, our spooky season picks were a little light (in quantity, not content) this year. However, last month was still a busy one here at Short of the Week, as we featured 20 shorts, celebrated 10-years of Loading Docs, released the latest episode in our Short Film Explained series with an interview with Diagonale director Anne Thorens, and unveiled our latest partnership with LOL Network, curating comedy shorts for their popular AVOD and FAST channels. — Rob Munday, Managing Editor
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Team Favorites
While I lamented our lack of Halloween-specific content, in the build up to the big day, just sentences ago, our October lineup was actually packed with genre films: from a couple trapped in a horror movie, to a fantasy about sleep dealers, an entity in a hole, and a possessive puppet. The latest batch of Gobelins graduation films also dropped, with Layla and Wormwood both featured on our site within a week. But for our ‘Best of the Month’ picks, we’ve selected a horror short from one of the most exciting genre directors, a fresh animation from a Short of the Week regular, and a dance short with unexpected heart. Enjoy!
Foreigners Only by Nuhash Humayun
Given horror’s rich potential for exploring societal issues, it’s no surprise that one of the most exciting upcoming genre directors, Nuhash Humayun (Moshari), tackles prejudice in his homeland in his latest short, Foreigners Only. This dark and brooding film follows a tannery owner’s quest for accommodation, blending a gripping narrative with touches of humour and gore to deliver a unique and unforgettable experience.
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World To Roam by Stephen Irwin
World to Roam isn’t so much about events as it is about emotions. We all have firsthand experience with the stages of growing from child to adult, and whether you’re a parent or not, you understand the emotional strain these transitions place on those looking after you. What Irwin’s film truly captures, instead, are the intense feelings of being a guardian for another human and, much like his film, how all-consuming this experience is.
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Yeah The Boys by Stefan Hunt
If I were to describe Stefan Hunt’s short film Yeah The Boys as a depiction of masculinity and Australia’s drinking culture, it would be accurate, but might conjure up a certain stereotype. However, the film beautifully defies expectations, as in collaboration with his wife, choreographer Vanessa Marian (who conceived the initial idea), Hunt has created a work that is as touching and unexpected as anything you’ll see this year.
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Shortverse Best of the Month
Click on the image to see the short films our Shortverse team picked as their Best of the Month for September 2024
If you’re looking for more team favorites, then head over to Shortverse, where our screeners have selected their personal picks from the titles that caught our attention in October.