We at Short of the Week have a special place in our hearts for SXSW—year after year the shorts program keeps bringing to our attention fresh and original work from filmmakers on the rise, as well as new projects from our dear alums. Site co-founder Jason Sondhi has consistently proclaimed it his favorite shorts program in festival-land, and I can’t wait to be on the ground to explore it for the first time. I’ll be scouting out the shorts and taking meetings, and hope to share with you our favorite films soon (very soon for a select few!)

As one of the prominent fests that does not have official premiere requirements, SXSW always saves a bit of room in its program for shorts already online. This time out we’re pleased to point you towards five shorts you can watch right now, including four films that have been featured on this site. Check them out below, and if you want to binge more SXSW-approved shorts, visit our SXSW Channel.
 
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INCEL

Dir: John Merizalde

Already featured back in November, Incel was inpired by a 2014 California mass shooting, which led S/W alum John Merizalde to craft this thought-provoking character study that nails the disturbing nature of the “involuntary celibate” online subculture.

Right Place, Wrong Tim

Dir: Eros Vlahos

The WTF dimension of this film made it a no-brainer for us to feature it this past Halloween. Made through the UK’s Random Acts scheme and featuring Asa Butterfield, Vlahos takes us on a bloody trip that starts as a spoof of a 90’s British sitcom before effortlessly turning into a genre gore-fest.

Sundays

Dir: José Andrés Cardona

We loved how surprising José Andrés Cardona’s Sundays is. Made through the Six Short Films collective (Pay Pig, The Sound of Your Voice), the film begins as a trivial scene in a car between two friends before quickly changing, upending expectation.

Guns Found Here

Dir: David Freid

We’ve featured a ton of work from the prolific documentarian David Freid, and this is one of our faves. The United States of America sure love their guns, it’s a concept that foreigners like me tend to struggle to grasp. While documentaries about shootings are unfortunately rather common, we appreciated the fresh angle of this one—all the associated paperwork.

EXIT 12: Moved By War

Dir: Mohammad Gorjestani

Exit 12 premiered online as a Vimeo Staff Pick Premiere. The documentary focuses on a US Marine veteran Roman Baca who started Exit 12, a New York based dance company, as a creative way to work through his war-induced trauma.