Rian Johnson (Brick & Looper)

Rian Johnson will be hitting the biggest of the big time with his next project—he’s slated to direct Star Wars: Episode VIII. While this low-budget, sardonic mind-bender might feel like it inhabits a galaxy far far away (sorry) from the Hollywood blockbuster, the genesis of much of his later work can be traced back to his early shorts. In fact, if we consider Johnson’s feature film output so far—a stylish modern noir, a screwball comedy and a psychological sci-fi thriller—there are elements of all three at play in The Psychology of Dream Analysis, which, in a ten minute short, is no simple feat. He uses live-action, stills, and illustrations cut together with dexterity to create a fragmented visual texture, like that of the unconscious mind. A wry narrator relays the story of a young woman who realizes, to her great concern, that she has never appeared in her own dreams. It was around the same time that Johnson wrote another three page script for a short which was later to become Looper, one of the most cerebral, character-driven action films we’ve seen in recent years.

Takashi Shimizu (Ju-on: The Grudge)

It takes a truly deft hand to create genuine suspense and terror in a three minute time frame, with no opportunity to build up back story, develop character or even toy with the audience before things really get going. And while Takashi Shimizu’s Gakko No Kaidan G / Katasumi (In a Corner) might lack technical polish, there’s no doubt that he achieves that goal. The future J-Horror master, who would go on to create the Ju-on: The Curse and Ju-on: The Grudge series, demonstrates his abilities here with a creepy tale of two classmates tending to a pet bunny. Much of the horror comes from his placement of the camera—we watch the youngsters from afar, aligning our POV with whoever—or whatever—is watching them. (Counter-intuitively, this technique always has the effect of making us want to look back ourselves, and see who might be watching us.) And of course, as in so many later classic J-Horrors, the watcher is revealed to be none other than a Yūrei—that terrifying long haired female ghost-like creature, whose presence always signals doom.

Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting & Elephant)

Van Sant and Burroughs seems like a match made in some iconoclastic heaven. Both are the masters of their respective generations when it comes to surreal, subversive content with a queer sensibility and a sly sense of humor. (To some extent, this analysis sets aside the more mainstream Van Sant of Good Will Hunting and, um, Finding Forrester.) It’s unsurprising that for his first short film after film school, Van Sant gravitated towards material by Burroughs—and had the first opportunity to meet his hero. A tongue-in-cheek 16mm instructional piece about a zen inspired philosophy, The Discipline of D.E. could also be viewed as an allegory for the act of filmmaking itself. Throughout his career Van Sant has revisited his association with Burroughs, memorably casting him as a junkie priest in 1989’s Drugstore Cowboy.

Jason Reitman (Juno & Up in the Air)

Jason Reitman’s witty dialogue, idiosyncratic characters and visual flair have garnered numerous accolades—including Academy Award nominations for directing for two of his first three feature films, Juno and Up in the Air.  While his more recent films (Labor Day, Men, Women & Children) have received somewhat patchier critical responses, there’s no doubt that he’s a distinctive filmmaker with the ability to imbue bleak situations with humor and humanity, whether the script is his own adapted screenplay or the brainchild of his two-time collaborator, Diablo Cody. In God We Trust takes, to be fair, a somewhat “film school” premise, and adds the ingredients that make Reitman’s films stand apart—a character in highly inauspicious circumstances, offbeat, self-effacing humor, and ultimately, an outcome that is life-affirming, yet not overly sentimental. Watch out for a brief cameo from young Reitman himself. 

Neill Blomkamp (District 9 & Elysium)

Neill Blomkamp’s interest in aliens and artificial intelligence, and their underlying potency as metaphors, can be traced to this 2005 short, which formed the basis for his breakthrough hit District 9. Directed by Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson, District 9 received four Oscar nominations in 2010. The premise of both Alive in Joburg and the feature is the same—aliens have landed on earth and are living in Johannesburg’s shanty towns, much to the consternation of the city’s human inhabitants. The documentary style, combined with superb visual effects, creates a powerful blend of sophisticated sci-fi and social commentary. Clearly a thinly cloaked analogy for the segregation and prejudices of the Apartheid system, many of the film’s interviews, ostensibly about the aliens, are actually real interviews with residents talking about the black Nigerians and Zimbabweans who live in the city. Blomkamp’s most recent film, the critically beleaguered Chappie, contains similar themes, critiquing police brutality through the eyes of a robot imbued with human characteristics.

Nick Park (Wallace & Gromit)

With his Claymation creations Wallace and Gromit, Nick Park captured the pedestrian yet cozy charms of domestic British life with humor and warmth. While he pokes gentle fun at the blundering inventor and his canine sidekick, his films are really a celebration of their simple pleasures—cups of tea, cheese and crackers, armchairs by the fire. Creature Comforts is an early short by Park which dubs Claymation zoo animals with real recordings of people candidly talking about their living situations, and the results are hilarious and strangely poignant. The impassioned Brazilian jaguar’s monologue is a perfect contrast with the “mustn’t grumble” attitude of the armadillos, turtles and polar bears, voiced by a cast of characters from loveable English grannies to highly opinionated primary school children. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short, 1989.

Mark Osborne (Kung Fu Panda & The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie)

This phenomenal early animation from the director of Kung Fu Panda and Sponge Bob Square Pants is not only a technically breathtaking and conceptually powerful short, although it is certainly both of those things. It also represents a series of short film milestones—it was one of the very first shorts to be shot for the IMAX format, one of the first to successfully self-launch online, and the first short shot in IMAX to subsequently be nominated for an academy award. More tells the story of an inventor living in a drab, monochromatic world who finds a way to bring color into people’s lives, but sacrifices his own happiness and inner light (literally) as a result. New Order’s rousing yet somber “Elegia” plays throughout, and the stylized dystopian visuals and warped scale bring to mind Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, and even, if this doesn’t sound too grandiose, Citizen Kane.

Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes & Extraterrestrial)

Nacho Vigalondo has made a name for himself as a cinematic rule breaker, and this early, Oscar nominated short is no exception. The director of sci-fi thrillers Timecrimes, Extraterrestrial and Open Windows works masterfully with low budgets and loves to explore the possibilities of genre. In 7:35 in the Morning he combines the menace of a hostage situation with the spectacle of a musical in a seemingly banal setting—a quiet street café at breakfast time. At the same time he exposes the artifice of his own craft—the extras, with their lines taped to their hands, are doing the bidding of the man behind the camera as much as they are the one who is holding them captive in the narrative construct.

Vin Diesel (The Fast & the Furious & Pitch Black)

Ironically this short film, in which Vin Diesel plays a struggling actor who just can’t catch a break, provides a truly great showcase for his skillset. Not only does it demonstrate his variety as an actor, but he also wrote, directed and scored the short, over three days for a total of $3,000. Multi-Facial, which was screened at Cannes in 1995, offers a clever commentary on racism and stereotyping in show business, delivered with humor and self-awareness. As Diesel hoofs it from audition to audition, something always stands in his way—he’s not dark enough to play black, he looks right for Hispanic roles but can’t speak Spanish. Careful framing and a vérité feel keep us firmly rooted in his story.

Fortunately for Vin Diesel, his fortunes in real life turned around after Steven Spielberg saw Multifacial and cast him in his first major role in Saving Private Ryan. He still battles being typecast today, playing the one-dimensional tough guy star of the most successful franchise of all time, The Fast & The Furious, but this short stands as a testament to the talent that lies beneath.

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