The 20+ Best Short Films on YouTube
Making a short film can be your ticket into creating a name for yourself in Hollywood. It feels like all content these days are getting shorter and shorter. When you look at streamers like Quibi, they’re creating content that’s fifteen minutes long, maximum. But this is not a new idea, even Stanley Kubrick saw the future of entertainment as short films.
And even Netflix released Love, Death, and Robots as a series built on short interpretations of the future.
I perused the internet and tried to pick some of the best short films available. If you know of others, please leave them in the comments and I will add them. I sorted them via film genre to make it easier. This is not a ranking, just a list of resources. I’m excited to hear what you think and hope it starts a discussion around short films and the art of cinema!
Validation
Logline: A fable about a parking attendant who gives his customers REAL validation — dispensing both free parking and free compliments.
Directed & Written by Kurt Kuenne
Harvie Krumpet
Logline: The odd biography of a man who has Tourette’s Syndrome, chronic bad luck, menial jobs, nudist tendencies, and a book of “fakts” hung around his neck
Directed & Written by Adam Elliot
Tall Enough
Logline: In this day-in-the-life piece, a young, interracial couple explore their relationship on a quiet Saturday in Brooklyn.
Directed & Written by Barry Jenkins
I Feel Stupid
Logline: Welcome to the awkward sexually charged silence of teenage life.
Directed by Milena Pastreich
Written by Ana Lily Amirpour
Thunder Road
Logline: Jimmy Arnaud eulogizes his mother.
Directed & Written by Jim Cummings
The Life of Death
Logline: Is it right to be treated as a weirdo just because you are Death incarnate? Even Death has feelings, and God forbid, even Death may die.
Directed & Written by Mark Dubiniec
The Gunfighter
Logline: In the tradition of classic westerns, a narrator sets up the story of a lone gunslinger who walks into a saloon. However, the people in this saloon can hear the narrator and the narrator may just be a little bit bloodthirsty.
Directed by Eric Kissack
Written by Kevin Tenglin
The Good Time Girls
Logline: A group of women band together as they go to war against a pack of men who have done them wrong at every turn.
Directed & Written by Courtney Hoffman
Malaria
Logline: A young mercenary is hired to kill Death.
Directed & Written by Edson Oda
The Elevator
Logline: A short film about riding the elevator.
Directed & Written by Greg Glienna
Bar Talk
Logline: In a dusty Texas bar, a chatty stranger insists on striking up a conversation with the man sitting next to him. The more this out-of-towner talks, the more obvious it is he’s not from ’round here. Heck, he’s not even from this planet! Based on the short story by Joe R. Lansdale.
Directed by Lowell Northrop
Written by Joe R. Lansdale
Trevor
Logline: Upon hitting puberty, a high-school boy realizes he is homosexual and faces prejudice from his parents and friends.
Directed by Peggy Rajski
Written by James Lecesne, Bruce Vilanch
Six Shooter
Logline: A black and bloody Irish comedy about a sad train journey where an older man, whose wife has died that morning, encounters a strange and possibly psychotic young oddball….
Directed & Written by Martin McDonough
Multi-Facial
Logline: A short film about the problems that accompany an actor as he auditions, due to his multi-ethnic appearance.
Directed & Written by Vin Diesel
Gregory Go Boom
Logline: A paraplegic man leaves home to be on his own.
Directed & Written by Janicza Bravo
Connection
Logline: A celebrity meets a person at the airport. All is fine until the person finds out that if they return home, they will be arrested.
Directed by Vladimir Shcherban
Written by Nikolai Khalezin, Laura Wade
I’m You, Dickhead
Logline: A man travels back in time to force his 10-year-old self to learn guitar so that he can get more action with the ladies in the present day.
Directed by Lucas Testro
Written by Larry Boxshall
Blue Season
Logline: Sarah wakes up to find herself hanging upside down. As she screams for help a phone rings and the person, on the other hand, helps her escape. Is all as it seems to be?
Directed by Georgina Higgins, Lee Jones
Written by Georgina Higgins
Sight
Logline: A short futuristic film featuring Augmented reality and Gamification. by Eran May-raz and Daniel Lazo. This is a graduation project from Bezaleal academy of arts.
Directed by Daniel Lazo (co-director), Eran May-Raz (co-director)
Written by Natalie Doten (narration)
The Door
Logline: A father’s desperate attempt to come to terms with the devastating effects of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Directed & Written by Juanita Wilson
Pumzi
Logline: A sci-fi film about Africa in the future, 35 years after World War III, the water war.
Directed & Written by Wanuri Kahiu
Blinky
Logline: A young boy living in the near future looks for an escape from a home with arguing parents. As a way to cope with the recent arguments from his parents he receives a robot companion that he ends up abusing.
Directed & Written by Ruairi Robinson
What would you add to this list of Short Films? Also stay tuned for our list of Movie Trailers 2020 and for our upcoming series for the best short films on www.completeflix.com
Twitter: @complete_flix