I might be slightly biased, but in my opinion, no one understands the short film landscape better than the team at Short of the Week. With our diverse backgrounds and constant immersion in the world of short films, we’ve cultivated a deep and ever-growing expertise, earning our place as leaders in the field.

This introduction isn’t merely an excuse to praise our team (though they certainly deserve it) - consider it a preface to why I hold our annual tradition of selecting our favorite short films of the year so close to my heart. While our Short Awards, honoring the "Best" films featured on our site over the past 12 months, are coming soon, this list is a bit different. It focuses on personal favorites - that one film that continues to linger in your mind, refusing to let go.

I always look forward to seeing the selections from each of our team members. Not only do they create an entertaining playlist, but they also offer a glimpse into each curator's unique personality - something we’re eager for our audience to see more of. Enjoy the picks, and if you’d like to share your own personal favorites from our 2024 curation, let us know in the comments below! -- Managing Editor, Rob Munday

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Regular Rabbit

dir. Eoin Duffy

Recommended by: Georg Csarmann

Eoin Duffy's Regular Rabbit manages to find a creative, fun and enticing way to tackle one of the most pressing topics of our time (disinformation), presenting it in an endearing animation style and accompanying it with a stellar voice-over narration by Rory McCann. The message is clear: don’t listen to the forrest, never trust Harry the Hamster – and whatever you do, beware the dubious hedgehog. Because what happened to the Regular Rabbit can happen to any regular rabbit.

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Precious Hair & Beauty

dir. John Ogunmuyiwa

Recommended by: Serafima Serafimova

It's been almost a year since we featured Precious Hair & Beauty on S/W, yet I vividly remember every single scene in it. The hilarious snapshot of a day at a West African hair salon in South London celebrates mundanity and madness, and brims with infectious energy. I suspect it might be physically impossible to watch Precious Hair & Beauty without cracking a smile. Director John Ogunmuyiwa balances authenticity and originality and delivers an experience that's both comforting and surprising. For this reason it's my film of the year.

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Relationship to Patient

dir. Caroline Creaghead

Recommended by: Céline Roustan

Simple, yet deeply effective. Sometimes a seemingly mundane slice-of-life exceeds expectations with its sincere authenticity and stellar performances - obviously Eleanore Pienta!

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The Crossing Over Express

dir. Luke Barnett + Tanner Thomason

Recommended by: Irina Wirjan

The Crossing Over Express is one of those films that manages to be both silly and deeply heartfelt all at once. The story builds in suspense, weaving a supernatural form for the character's mother and crafting an imperfect but vulnerable moment of connection. I enjoyed the film the first time I viewed it but find it even more resonant now after having dealt with my own loss this past year. Grieving is tough but the lightness in this film is a refreshing comfort, sure to bring both tears and laughter.

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Freelance

dir. Luciano A. Muñoz Sessarego, Magnus Igland Møller & Peter Smith

Recommended by: AndY Allen

This one is stupidly simple—which is why it's so great. It resurrects the original meaning of the moniker "freelance" as a medieval mercenary but plays it out with modern day frustrations against an unappeasable king/client. But I can find even more here in the inner struggle of any creative professional to never truly enjoy your accomplishments but only ever feel the need to create more—for your client, your audience, yourself—until you either burn out or chop off the head.

FILM WEBSITE

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Bogotá Story

dir. Esteban Pedraza

Recommended by: Adam Banks

Bogotá Story tells a nuanced, realistic tale of a Colombian couple whose semi-comfortable life has been uprooted by the chaos of Escobar’s narco state, and it pairs this reason to leave with an incredible commentary on traditional gender roles and how wives are often forced to put their own career on hold for their husbands. It’s tense, captivating, and gorgeously photographed, and I would watch a feature length adaptation of this short in a heartbeat as its fifteen minute runtime left me wanting more.

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Campfire

dir. Austin Bunn

Recommended by: Rob Munday

The most surprising film of 2024 for me was Austin Bunn's Campfire, a docu-fiction short centered on one of America’s "oldest gay campgrounds." Seamlessly blending real interviews with a fictional narrative about a closeted man searching for his long-lost love, Bunn crafts a film rich in authenticity and emotional depth—delivering the kind of heartfelt storytelling that’s rare in any medium.

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Instruments of a Beating Heart

dir. Ema Ryan Yamazaki

Recommended by: Jason Sondhi

My favorite sports film of the year. That's tongue-in-cheek, but the narrative arc is such a feel-good classic underdog story. Most short docs don't even have an arc to speak of, but Ayame's quest to bang a cymbal in time was my favorite hero's journey of 2024.

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Yeah The Boys

dir. Stefan Hunt

Recommended by: Chelsea Lupkin

I’ve never watched a short that manages to say so much with virtually no dialogue at all. Dizzyingly cinematic, Stefan Hunt’s Yeah the Boys depicts hyper masculinity and Australia’s drinking culture through experimental dance, chokeholds, crowd surfs, and crude gestures. In a truly magical collaboration with his wife, choreographer Vanessa Marian, it also captures the tender moments between friends that go unseen in the night. In just 8-minutes, you’ll be immersed into a world so viscerally human that it will be hard to shake. I love this short and feel like it’s one of those films that everyone has experienced. Because at some point, we’ve all asked ourselves, when does the night stop feeling fun?

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The Boy Who Cheated Death

dir. Pipou Phuong Nguyen

Recommended by: Mariana “Rekka” Dominguez

Animation and death are two things that keep me up at night, and The Boy Who Cheated Death is a short film that masterfully defies both. This film captivated me with its ambiguity, as it attempts to grasp the vastness of nature by creating multiple realities in multiple techniques, while confronting the protagonist – who's trying to save his mother – to the one thing we will all have to face someday: mortality itself.

COMING SOON

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CHECK OUT THE S/W TEAM'S FAVOURITE FILMS FROM 2023