In a key step towards our ongoing goal of taking over the internet and ruling with an iron fist, Filmmaker Magazine has honored both Andrew and I as part of their popular annual feature, the 25 New Faces of Independent Film. You can skip straight to Scott Macaulay’s great article on us here.

However, if you’re discovering Short of the Week for the first time thanks to the article, welcome! This site is all about recommending great online short films that are available to watch for free—festival hits, creative animations, high-profile branded content—if it’s online and worth your time we’ll share it, and importantly, via insightful reviews, tell you why it is worth your time.

Andrew and I are short film fans for their experimental nature—every new filmmaker earns their chops by making short films—making it not only a great medium to discover new talent but also new forms of storytelling. Historically though, being a fan has not been easy. When we started this site 4 years ago, getting a chance to see great shorts was restricted to film festivals or obscure DVD collections. Now, the maturation of video on the internet led by YouTube and Vimeo has changed that, and we now have access to an endless variety of online entertainment. But lacking the kind of review and PR communities that support Hollywood and indie-film, identifying the greatest stories out there is now the central conundrum. That’s the vacuum Short of the Week is dedicated to fill.

Through four years of reviews, Short of the Week has amassed hundreds of films and reviews to browse at your leisure. Where to start? Well as long as we’re self-promoting, our animation The Thomas Beale Cipher is a good start. Also, try taking a dip in the archives sorted by genre, topic and style. Read our articles, especially How We Launched our Film Online, and if you want the best of the best, check out our Playlists, which include SotW’s annual Top-Ten lists.

We’re always on the lookout for great new content. Recently we started Short of the Week Presents, a program where we work with filmmakers to launch their short films online, leveraging our knowledge and connections to help films go viral. Our most recent collaboration with U.K.-animator Joseph Pierce and his short A Family Portrait has received over 150,000 views. Australian filmmaker Chris Kezelos had his festival hit, Zero, online for 2 weeks with less than 5,000 views before we decided to help out, and now it has 250,000! If you’d like to work with us, submit your film!

Via the website, as well as our presence on Facebook, Twitter and Vimeo, we’ve not only collected great content, but also forged a strong community of short film lovers the world over. This is a group of fans who believe in the power of great stories (short films, interactive films, branded content, and more) to both enlighten and entertain. Won’t you join us?