I Met the Walrus or Hotel Chevilier are my favorites.
Animated: Red Hot Riding Hood (I’ve seen pretty much every Tex Avery cartoon at least twice, as well as the Bob Clampett Looney Tunes.)
Watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQtYQouzNsk
Live-action: Monty Python’s French Subtitled Film. It’s an introductory skit, but it counts as a short film, dunnit?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbAohexT0Ho
Could anybody tell me how to add links?
La Jetee-Chris Marker
Scorpio Rising by Kenneth Anger is pretty good; love the music.
L’ ultimo Pistolero w/Franco Nero is fun. It comes as it’s own extra disc, when you pick up Corbucci’s Django on Blue Underground.
I met the walrus and Hotel Chevalier are both indeed excellent.
This is a list of some of my top ones:
The Lunch Date by Adam Davidson is impeccable
The Last Farm by Runar Runarsson is phenomenal (sorry no link to watch)
Heavy Metal Drummer by Toby MacDonald
C’était un rendezvous by Claude LeLouch
La Cabina by Antonio Mercero
Never like the first time by Jonas Odell
We have decided not to die by Daniel Askill
The Heart of the World by Guy Maddin
Alice et Moi by Micha Wald
On s’embrasse by Pierre Olivier
At the lighter end:
Le Cheval 2.1 by Stephen Scott Hayward and Alex Kirkland
Anything by Pes, e.g. Roof Sex
How they get there by Spike Jonze
Neighbor by Eric Lynne
All the Panique au village series by PicPicAndre
Da Duve.
The Little Match Girl, also my favorite silent film.
La Jetee – Chris Marker
Me La Debes – Carlos Cuaron
I saw a really great film once that I was never able to identify, I think it was Scandanavian but can’t really say. Here’s what happened:
You see a king in his court, full of nobility and the best that you can buy in the 18th century. They go to see a play that is being put on for the king. The play is performed and the lead character disappears underneath the stage, sinking slowly into the stage floor.
The king loves it so much he insists on playing the lead character for a second. He says a few words and then he sinks below the stage floor, just like the original actor did. Only this time we follow him as he descends beneath the stage.
Once beneath the stage he is met by filthy sweaty beings who are working the ropes and pulleys and gears to make the scenery work. They push on a large wheel as he descends and then stare at him in wonder.
The audience above claps wildly as the king is killed by the theater workers in the below the stage….
I don’t have an all-time favorite, but my two favorites of ’08 were Abigal (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1381520/) and Auf Der Strecke (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219675/)
Yeah, Girl Bites Pen. The Heart of the World is one of the most brilliant short films I’ve ever seen, with it’s truly great plot outlined so easily you could just watch it again and again, seeing that dazzling display of upure filmmaking.
I think that I really like Mishima’s Patriotism, although it is a bit painful to watch. It was a very cool display of virtuoso filmmaking, with such a minimalistic style that evoked some kind of structural element you can just see breaking down as each person commits harakiri. Really a fantastic work.
Savvy
Death to Tinman is amazing it and Glory at Sea are my two favorite short films made in recent years but to say favorite of all time is a very difficult thing.
Me La Debes – dir. Carlos Cuaron (It’s on the DVD for Y Tu Mama Tambien)
14th arrondissement – dir. Alexander Payne (last film from Paris, je t’aime)
Seven Years – dir. Ryan Bates http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxaPzWuM55w
THE DANISH POET
It really affected me in a way I didn’t think was possible. I remember when I first watched it I watched it every day that week as soon as I woke up. It was such a wonderful way to start off the day. I wish Liv Ullmann would narrate my life.
double :(
Segundo de Chomón:
Le Scarabée d’or
Les Kiriki, acrobates japonais
Buster Keaton:
Sherlock Jr.
Cops
Georges Méliès:
A Trip to the Moon
L’ Homme à la tête en caoutchouc
Alain Resnais:
Night and Fog
Luis Buñuel:
Un Chien Andalou
Humberto Mauro:
A Velha a Fiar
If I were to choose one, I’d have to go with Chomón’s Le Scarabée d’or.
Oh and of course J. Searle Dawley’s Frankenstein (1910)
American Terror: Company Man – local independent animated film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOIaJfWAIGY
oh man, i’ve got a lot of shorts to watch!
here’s another one of my favorites by spike jonze:
how they get there.
I loved That Burning Question by Alan Taylor when I was in high school. I wish I could find it again to see what I think now.
2 Owen Sound: Loved the The Danish Poet , thanks.
2 Girl Bites Pen: On S’embrasse is remarkable! Also liked Never like the first time and Alice et Moi. Le Cheval is good, too.
There is already a thread for Favourite Short Films
And Great Director’s Short Films
Some animation short films:
Tale of Tales by Yuri Norshtein
House of Flame by Kihachiro Kawamoto
Le Chat caméléon by Ernest Ansonge
The Tempest by Stanislav Sokolov
and a short art film by Man Ray
The short attached with Une Femme est une Femme….
Something like “All the Boys are called Patrick”
Great stuff!
A list is very hard to do.
I don’t know exactly what time-frame one considers for a short film (I usually think them to be around ten minutes long, or less), but I just watched Bunuel’s Simon of the Desert, and it wasn’t really a full length film, so I’ll put it in the shorter category. That was a very, very interesting piece of work, one with some fantastic camera work, and some cool performances. Bunuel was a great artist, although he seemed to love making his messages ambiguous (or, at least, in the interview, he said he did), and so this one seemed a little more difficult to get than something like The Exterminating Angel, or, perhaps, The Phantom of Liberty, in that who Bunuel is siding with (if he’s siding with anyone) is not always clear. Excellent surrealist work, though.
Savvy
a short film (from my understanding) is usually anything under 25 minutes or so. once you get over 30, it puts the film at an odd length.
a short film (from my understanding) is usually anything under 25 minutes or so. once you get over 30, it puts the film at an odd length.
Great lists everbody! Here are some of my favorite short ones:
Ménilmontant (1926) by Dimitri Kirsanoff
La coquille et le clergyman / The Seashell and The Clergyman (1928) by Germaine Dulac
Les maîtres fous (1955) by Jean Rouch
Blow Job (1963) by Andy Warhol
Byt / The Flat (1968) by Jan Svankmajer
The Grandmother (1970) by David Lynch
Fingered (1986) by Richard Kern
The Comb (1990) by the Quay Brothers
Gasman (1997) by Lynne Ramsay
Da Janela do Meu Quarto (2004) by Cao Guimarães
1) “Wayfarers” (Podorozhni, 2005) by Igor Strembitsky
Something between Tarkovsky, Sokurov and Tarr
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0CQo1DhJDQ
2) “Bread & Alley” (1970) by Abbas Kiarostami
Simple the best
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DGOXDRuVBI
Enjoy!
Elevated (Vincenzo Natali) and Six Shooter (Martin McDonagh) are my favorites. Saw The Heart of the World last night by recommendations in this thread and can attest to its wonderfulness too!
themcleodproject
when thinking of my favorite short film, this film always is the first to come to mind. “death to the tinman” by ray tintori.
you can watch it here:
http://themcleodproject.blogspot.com/2009/05/alcoholics-anonymous-mens-choir.html