South By Southwest has kicked off its 25th film festival. The Austin mega-festival is an event we hold close to our hearts—our co-founder Andrew Allen gave a talk at the conference last year, and we also really admire the careful curation of the programming team which invariably discovers some of our favorite new shorts. We hope that, just like in previous years, we’ll be sharing many of this year’s films with you in the coming weeks and months. We definitely second Senior Film Programmer, Claudette Godfrey’s sentiment:

“Year after year, I get fired up and inspired by the sense of discovery and boundary pushing in our shorts program”.

Worth mentioning, over half of the projects in the shorts program, music videos and independent episodics were directed by women! We are also pumped that a dozen of our alums are present in the line-up. If you are anywhere but Austin, Texas however, don’t feel left out—you can virtually take part by watching four films that are already online, and for previously featured shorts from past years, visit our SXSW Channel. 

BRIAN AND CHARLES

Dir: Jim Archer

Previously featured on this site, Brian and Charles is dark comedy mockumentary at its best. Jim Archer combines a story of two roommates with a Frankenstein twist. Brian, after a period of loneliness and depression, created a robot to keep him company… Charles! We witness the unlikely friendship stricken by the pair, up until a cabbage dispute tears them apart. Their amazing chemistry carries both the comedy and the emotional aspect of this entertaining film. 

Jay Z – “Moonlight”

Dir: Alan Yang

Picture The One Where No One’s Ready, Friends’ season 3 episode 2. Now replace the all-star original cast by maybe an even more impressive all-star cast of African American actors. Emmy Award winner Alan Yang enlisted none other than Issa Rae, Tessa Thompson, Tiffany Haddish, Lil Rel Howery, Lakeith Stanfield and Jerrod Carmichael for Jay Z’s Moonlight music video. The musical portion of the piece is rather small in this 7min work, which is why it was programmed in the shorts selections, rather than SXSW’s famous music video program, and the storytelling is deeper than one expects from an MV. In a quick and effective manner, Yang delivers a powerful commentary on black representation, filled with enjoyable Easter eggs for the sharp-eyed. 

My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes

Dir: Charlie Tyrell

SotW alum Charlie Tyrell’s short documentary was one of my favorite from Sundance and is now a New York Times Op-Ed. With a mix of stop-motion animation, personal footage and recorded phone calls, narrated by David Wain (writer/director of Wet Hot American Summer), Tyrell offers us a playful yet emotional glimpse at the complex family dynamics and how we connect to what people leave behind with their posthumous possessions- in this case, tacky and dated porno tapes.

Who’s The Daddy

Dir: Wong Ping

This Vimeo Staff Picked animated short film straight from Hong Kong is, to be honest, extremely hard to describe. Programmed in the Midnight selection, Wong Ping’s irreverrently auto-biographical work pictures the artist as a weekend vegetarian, devoted atheist, and erstwhile Tinder user, which he hopes will provide him a greater insight into his own demons. Using video games aesthetics, Ping does not shy away from graphic details and violence with a distinctive and sarcastic sense of humor. A prolific creator, this piece cements Ping’s status as one of Asia’s most distinctive independent animators.