Short Films: Lasting Impact
These films may be small, but their influence and legacy are undeniable. Often under-watched and overlooked in favor of feature-length films, many short films have a powerful impact. Let’s take a look at some fantastic short films that address social issues like war, sexuality, and feminism head-on.
Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl)
The story of young Afghan girls learning to read, write and skateboard in Kabul.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2019
- Director Carol Dysinger
- Cast
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Kanopy
Sitara: Let Girls Dream
(Sitara - Let Girls Dream)
A young girl longs to be a pilot against her families wishes.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Pakistan, United States • 2019
- Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
- Cast
- Genre Animation, Drama
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
Marguerite
An elderly woman develops a connection with her home nurse and is encouraged to confront her long-repressed feelings.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada • 2017
- Director Marianne Farley
- Cast Béatrice Picard, Sandrine Bisson
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV
Reluctantly Queer
The troubled life of a queer Ghanaian man struggling to keep a relationship with his mother.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Ghana, United States • 2016
- Director Akosua Adoma Owusu
- Cast Kwame Edwin Otu
- Genre
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The White Helmets
To save a life is to save all of humanity.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2016
- Director Orlando von Einsiedel
- Cast Khalid Farah, Mohammed Farah, Abu Omar, Raed Saleh
- Genre Documentary, War
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
Wasp
A short film about a singer mother and her four children.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2003
- Director Andrea Arnold
- Cast Natalie Press, Danny Dyer, Jodie Mitchell, Molly Griffiths, Kaitlyn Raynor, Danny Daley
- Genre Drama
- Available on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel
Talking Heads
(Gadające głowy)
Acclaimed director Krzysztof Kieślowski poses a few simple questions to people of all ages across Poland.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Poland • 1980
- Director Krzysztof Kieślowski
- Cast
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Criterion Channel
The House Is Black
(خانه سیاه است)
A look at life and suffering in a leper colony with a focus on the beauty of creation.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Iran • 1963
- Director Forugh Farrokhzad
- Cast Forugh Farrokhzad, Ebrahim Golestan, Hossein Mansouri
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Criterion Channel
La Jetée
The story of a post-nuclear war experiment with time travel, constructed almost entirely from still photos.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1962
- Director Chris Marker
- Cast Jean Négroni, Hélène Chatelain, Davos Hanich, Jacques Ledoux, André Heinrich, Jacques Branchu
- Genre Romance, Science Fiction
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Night and Fog
(Nuit et brouillard)
Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1955
- Director Alain Resnais
- Cast Michel Bouquet, Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Hitler, Julius Streicher
- Genre Documentary, History, War
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Neighbours
Two neighbors come to blows over a flower that straddles the property line.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada • 1952
- Director Norman McLaren
- Cast Grant Munro, Jean Paul Ladouceur
- Genre Animation, Comedy
- Available on OVID, Filmzie, Kanopy
Song of Love
(Un chant d'amour)
Two prisoners in complete isolation, separated by the thick brick walls, and desperately in need of human contact, devise a most unusual kind of communication.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1950
- Director Jean Genet
- Cast Lucien Sénémaud, Bravo, André Reybaz, Jean Genet, Java, Coco Le Martiniquais
- Genre Romance, Fantasy
- Available on Kanopy