Features
In-depth editorial features exploring the art, economics, and cultural significance of short-form cinema from around the world.
Why Directors Love a Roulette Wheel
There are few objects in cinema as reliably eloquent as a roulette wheel. A director who wants to say everything is about to change doesn’t need dialogue — just a…
Animation in Short Form: Why the Genre Thrives Under 20 Minutes
The Natural Habitat of Animation If you were designing an art form specifically optimized for the short film format, you…
The Economics of Short Film Distribution
The Money Problem Nobody Talks About In 2019, a short film that had won the Palme d’Or at Cannes — the most prestigious award in…
From Short to Feature: Directors Who Broke Through
The Leap Nobody Prepares You For Every year, thousands of short films screen at festivals around the world. A fraction…
Read Full Dispatch →International Short Film: Voices from Europe, Asia, and Latin America
Beyond Hollywood’s Periphery The short film has always been international in a way that the…
Short Films at Sundance: A 20-Year Retrospective
The Festival That Takes Shorts Seriously In January 2006, a fifteen-minute film about a boy…
The Grammar of the 10-Minute Film
Why Ten Minutes Changes Everything There is a persistent myth among emerging filmmakers that a…