By any measurement, 2016 was a dramatic year. In a year that revealed some of the ugliest nature of ourselves, we need to remember to reflect on the amazing moments as well. In the world of short film, 2016 was a year of some amazing innovative storytelling.

Here at Short of the Week, we went into overdrive covering it all by published a record 322 posts! We even started monthly roundups of the top 3 shorts with Best of the Month as a great way to get caught up quickly on what you might have missed. and launched a new Classics channel to highlight innovative films from years past. We saw an astounding 3,200 film submissions come our way thanks in part to the launch of our presence on FilmFreeway. And we launched S/W accounts as a better way to manage your subscription preferences (now including daily emails) and took that from 0 to 18,000 accounts in just a year!

But most important to us are the amazing filmmakers we get to discover and bring to the world. This year we launched our New Filmmaker Series to tell the stories behind the successful filmmakers who turned online buzz into industry opportunities (Eddie O’Keefe, Dave Green, Stephan Zlotescu). We also saw a number of SOTW filmmakers move beyond short films to make a splash in pop culture. The Daniels’ Swiss Army Man made a stir at Sundance, David Lowery made Pete’s Dragon, Dan Trachtenberg directed 10 Cloverfield Lane, Fede Alvarez made Don’t Breathe, and Rod Blackhurst co-directed Netflix’s telling doc Amanda Knox—to list just a few.

New Filmmaker, Dave Green

We also told you about the 15 things wrong with your short film, got socially involved with short films on the Syrian crisis, and gave you roundups of the top feature films that began as short films and other shorts by famous filmmakers. We gave you a look at the state of VR short films with our Tribeca coverage and put together what we believe is the definitive guide for Female Filmmakers to take advantage of funding, festivals, and distribution opportunities.

The S/W UK Crew & Filmmakers

2016 also was a big year for expanding our world-class team of curators. We welcomed new contributors Adam and Serafima and officially launched our intern program (apply now, if you’re interested in our next round of spots)

And like everyone, we’re looking forward to better things in 2017. Look for announcements soon for our annual 2017 Short of the Week Awards to honor the best online films from the past year. And stay tuned for more details on the talk we’ll be giving at SXSW in March 2017.