Favorite Short Films: Live Action
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- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsHervé ManganiLouis BecSaskia Cohen TanugiA real estate agent tries to sell a 7-room house with kitchen and bathroom to a young couple even though he had previously sold it to its former owners.
- DirectorRúnar RúnarssonStarsMarie BodaDaniel StampePetrine AggerIn a small Danish fishing village, a young girl faces the challenges of puberty and first love.
- DirectorMaya DerenStarsJohn CageMaya DerenAlexander HammidSilently, a woman wakes on a beach as the tides go in reverse. Her dreamscape unfolds as she tries to locate a chess piece traveling from the beach to a party to a country road and then back.
- DirectorSpike JonzeStarsBeastie BoysAdam YauchAdam HorovitzSet to the song, Sabotage, the Beastie Boys appear in a condensed parody of a 1970s cop show.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsLy AbdoulayAlbourahBoron Sarret is arguably the first film made by a black African. It illustrates poverty in Senegal, particularly for the working man.
- DirectorBruce ConnerStarsToni BasilBruce Conner's 1966 dazzling dance short, "Breakaway", a film poem marrying the rhythm of the editing, movement of the body and the camera to a beautiful effect.
- DirectorAthina Rachel TsangariStarsAriane LabedClémence PoésyIsolda DychaukSeven girls, a mansion perched on a Cycladic rock, a cycle of lessons on discipline, desire and demise-infinitely.
- DirectorJean GenetStarsBravoJean GenetJavaTwo prisoners in complete isolation, separated by the thick brick walls, and desperately in need of human contact, devise a most unusual kind of communication.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonEdward F. ClineVirginia FoxA series of mishaps manages to make a young man get chased by a big city's entire police force.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsSylvia BatailleJane MarkenGeorges D'ArnouxThe family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love with a man at the inn, where they spend the day.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonStarsWilliam K.L. DicksonThe earliest extant sound film. William K.L. Dickson stands in the background next to a huge sound pickup horn connected to a Thomas Edison phonograph recorder. As he plays a violin, two men dance in the foreground. This film was made to demonstrate a new Thomas Edison machine, the Kinetophone. These machines were Kinetoscope peepshow viewers mated with Thomas Edison wax cylinder phonographs. But the Kinetophone never caught on and this film was never released. The film still exists, but the phonograph soundtrack has been lost.
- DirectorAnders Thomas JensenStarsUlrich ThomsenJens Jørn SpottagJohn MartinusOn his way to the polls, an idealist yet absent-minded voter must endure continuous waves of racist cab drivers and their offensive remarks.
- DirectorPeter TscherkasskyA sunbathing woman has a phantasmagoric vision of ecstasy, derived from various found footage sources.
- DirectorSpike JonzeStarsChristopher WalkenA businessman, overhearing the song on the maid's radio, takes to dancing in the hotel lobby.
- DirectorSamuel BeckettAlan SchneiderStarsBuster KeatonNell HarrisonJames KarenA twenty-minute, almost totally silent film (no dialogue or music, save one 'shhh!') in which Buster Keaton attempts to evade observation by an all-seeing eye. But, as the film is based around Bishop Berkeley's principle 'esse est percipi' (to be is to be perceived), Keaton's very existence conspires against his efforts
- DirectorCarolee SchneemannStarsCarolee SchneemannJames TenneyAn experimental short in which a couple engaged in lovemaking is superimposed over ocean and beach scenes.
- DirectorMichel BraultStarsBernard ArcandGeneviève BujoldLouise MarleauTwo teenage girls go to winter carnival in Quebec City for the first time. Their ambiguous, tentative relationship with a young boy brings both of them the sweet intensity and disillusionment of first love.
- DirectorShûji TerayamaStarsHiroshi MikamiTakeshi WakamatsuKeiko NiitakaA young man, haunted by his past, travels the land in search of the lyrics to a lullaby his mother used to sing to him.
- DirectorEdwin S. PorterStarsGilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' AndersonA.C. AbadieGeorge BarnesA group of bandits stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels.
- DirectorHollis FramptonStarsMichael SnowFrampton slowly burning his black and white photographs as he describes and tells the story behind them.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsLeslie BaisCaelum VatnsdalShaun BalbarA scientist chooses a wealthy man over her two lovers but must heal the earth's core to save humanity.
- DirectorToshio MatsumotoStarsHiroko HoriuchiAn experimental film that attempts to create through the 'breathing' of visuals and music, the rhythm of Ki, the Japanese ideogram that symbolises the energy permeating the whole universe.
- DirectorLouis LumièreWorkers leaving the Lumière factory for lunch in Lyon, France in 1895; a place of great photographic innovation and one of the birth places of cinema.
- DirectorRobert FloreySlavko VorkapichStarsJules RaucourtVoya GeorgeRobert FloreyA wannabe movie star experiences the surreal horrors of dehumanization at the bottom of Hollywood's social ladder as his hopes for success vanish and his identity is reduced to a number.
- DirectorBill MorrisonStarsEddie PhillipsLola ToddA scene from The Bells (1926) is optically reprinted and edited to Michael Gordon¹s 7 minute composition. A meditation on the fleeting nature of life and love, as seen through the roiling emulsion of an film.
- DirectorKenneth AngerStarsKenneth AngerBobby BeausoleilDonald CammellEgyptian gods summons the angel Lucifer - in order to usher in a new occult age.
- DirectorMaya DerenAlexander HammidStarsMaya DerenAlexander HammidA woman returning home falls asleep and has vivid dreams that may or may not be happening in reality. Through repetitive images and complete mismatching of the objective view of time and space, her dark inner desires play out on-screen.
- DirectorTracey MoffattStarsMarcia LangtonAgnes HardwickJimmy LittleA middle aged Aboriginal woman nurses her dying old white mother till the mother dies.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonSybil SeelyJoe RobertsA newly wedded couple attempts to build a house with a prefabricated kit, unaware that a rival sabotaged the kit's component numbering.
- DirectorDimitris AvgerinosLakis PapastathisStarsStavros ChristofidesGiannis EvangelidisA chronicle of the German Occupation in Greece.
- DirectorBruce BaillieA short film by Bruce Baillie in which he documents his journey across North America.
- DirectorKenneth AngerStarsErnie AlloBruce ByronFrank CarifiA gang of Nazi bikers prepares for a race as sexual, sadistic, and occult images are cut together.
- DirectorGermaine DulacStarsAlex AllinLucien BatailleGenica AthanasiouObsessed with a general's woman, a clergyman has strange visions of death and lust, struggling against his own eroticism.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsJim BroadbentStephen BillBelinda BradleyThe 23rd Earl of Leete shares brief moments of his life, the truth behind his family estate and his particular glorious moment when he murdered his wife and his brother.
- DirectorGakuryû IshiiStarsYosuke NakajimaTatsuya MoriShigeru MuroiA cop chases a punk who had a fight with his girlfriend through every kind of urban setting, going on so long the punk starts hallucinating.
- DirectorErnie GehrAn experimental short in which San Francisco is viewed from an elevator moving up and down 24 floors.
- DirectorGermaine DulacStarsGermaine DermozMadeleine GuittyJean d'YdAn unhappily married woman devises a scheme to get rid of her husband.
- DirectorRaúl RuizStarsPascal BonitzerJean-Loup RivièreA man awakens to find himself immersed in a real-life scenario of a board game with an ever expanding cartography.
- DirectorJean EpsteinIn a village in Brittany, a young maid and an old woman are spinning while the wind blows threateningly outdoors. In spite of the bad omen, the young maid's boyfriend decides to sail away. Worried, the young maid ask for help to a mysterious old man and his magical crystal ball in order to calm down the rough seas.
- DirectorThomas DraschanStella FriedrichsThis award-winning short color films include a wide range of images, which include animated and black and white footage. The film rapidly cuts between scenes. Some of the depictions could be judged as shocking or offensive by some.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsVictor AndréBleuette BernonA group of astronomers go on an expedition to the Moon.
- DirectorShirin NeshatStarsShoja AzariSussan DeyhimIn a two-screen video installation, two singers perform to explore gender roles and cultural power through ancient Persian music and poetry.
- DirectorConi BeesonYoung couples are depicted in various stages of finding comfort with each other to become intimate.
- DirectorPeter KubelkaA trip to Africa is edited into a brief documentary without continuity between sound and image or story and time.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsFernande AlbanyJehanne d'AlcyUsing every known means of transportation, several savants from the Geographic Society undertake a journey through the Alps to the Sun which finishes under the sea.
- DirectorPeter GreenawayStarsColin CantlieJean WilliamsAn anonymous narrator outlines a bizarre journey taken through "H", aided by a series of extraordinary maps, and his previous dealings with the mysterious Tulse Luper and the keeper of the bird house at the Amsterdam Zoo.
- DirectorPatrick BokanowskiStarsJean-Jacques ChoulJacques Delbosc d'AuzonClaus-Dieter ReentsA study of human anxieties about beauty, youth and objectification.
- DirectorRoy AnderssonStarsKlas-Gösta OlssonLennart BjörklundChrister ChristensenAfter witnessing an act of unprecedented violence without even flinching, an emotionally numb real-estate agent visits his ailing mother at the hospital, and then, the graveyard. Is there a speck of happiness in this cruel and short life?
- DirectorApichatpong WeerasethakulPimpaka TowiraA couple explores the jungle in search of a spiritual tree while a film crew shoots a musical number.
- DirectorHiroshi TeshigaharaStarsMiki IrieTeruko HasegawaYoko MatsushitaFollows Ako, a 16-year-old Japanese girl, as she spends time working in a bakery and going out with her friends.
- DirectorNico van den BrinkStarsAnastasia PastukhovaSilvan ZomerdijkEllen van RossumSexual awakening of a sister and brother.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsÉtienne BeckerJean NégroniHélène ChatelainThe story of a man forced to explore his memories in the wake of World War III's devastation, told through still images.
- DirectorJane CampionStarsGabrielle ShorneggGeraldine HaywoodMarian KnightThe awkwardness and confusion of burgeoning sexuality in teenage girls in a twisted and repressed suburban culture.
- DirectorJane CampionStarsDanielle PearseDon ReidAnna Maria MonticelliThe difficulty of separating sexual fantasy and reality become apparent at an investigation of an alledged sexual harassment case.
- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiA short film challenging humankind on universal themes of stability versus chaos.
- DirectorEdwinStarsLadya CherylCarlo Genta
- DirectorSaif Alsaegh
- DirectorKonstantina KotzamaniStarsDespoina KapoulitsaA maturation trip, the childish nightmare of K. In a wooden house, she revives her childhood's fears and desires and experiences her sexual awakening. A dreamy wandering constructed by the tale of three little pigs, a distorted view of her own family.
- DirectorValie ExportStarsIrmilin HoferThe body and specifically the "woman's body" is often used as a focus for questions of origin, subject-object relations, political resistance and sexuality. Valie Export's notion of "body language" poses an ironic relation to these questions that acknowledges "the end of the body" or at least the final break with the way in which we understand it to be a biological, existential, or metaphysical entity. Export has broken away from any notion of unity - either body, space, or time - into the fragmented world of doubling and difference that is caught in representation.
- DirectorArtavazd PeleshianPoetic essay about the beginning of life from labor pains and birth and about its symbolic meaning.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiPeople of different age, profession and social status answer two simple questions: who they are and what they want from life.
- DirectorVirgil WidrichStarsJohannes SilberschneiderElisabeth Ebner-HaidUnknowingly, a copy shop employee sets off a bizarre series of events with utterly unforeseen consequences.
- DirectorStorm De HirschA further exploration into the color of ritual, the color of thought; a journey through the underworld of sensory derangement.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsClaudio BrookSilvia PinalEnrique Álvarez FélixSimon, a deeply religious man living in the 4th century, wants to be nearer to God so he climbs a column. The Devil wants him to come down to Earth and is trying to seduce him.
- DirectorAlan ClarkeStarsGary WalkerBill HamiltonMichael FoyleA depiction of a series of violent killings in Northern Ireland with no clue as to exactly who is responsible.
- DirectorViggo LarsenA young couple appears to be perfectly happy and in love, but one day the woman discovers that her husband is having an affair. She seeks out his mistress, and the two women agree to resolve their conflict in a duel.
- DirectorChris CunninghamStarsBjörkThe accompanying music video for the single was directed by Chris Cunningham and depicts the assembling of a robot with Björk's features, and her passionately kissing another robot in front of an ethereal and sterile backdrop.
- DirectorDave FleischerTed SearsStarsBilly MurrayBimbo is seen late at night, trying to steal a chicken. He runs away from a policeman and enters a haunted cemetery. Various ghosts and monsters tell him that he will be punished for his sin.
- DirectorRomain GavrasStarsM.I.A.Music video for Bad Girls by M.I.A.
- DirectorSegundo de ChomónSlippery Jim, a captured pickpocket, is brought into the police station. From the valuable jewelry in his pocket, he is evidenced to be guilty of numerous crimes; thus, the policemen escort him to a jail cell where he is chained up around the ankles. Once they have left, the pickpocket's feet become dismembered and the chains drop off, freeing him. The police, spotting him, try shutting him in a box, but yet again he is able to escape. Fed up with these pranks, they attempt drowning the trickster in the river by tying him up and covering him with a sack, but this proves yet again no use. The pickpocket frees himself of his bondage and jumps out of the river. However, the police catch soon catch on to his trail, and so this time he is pursued on a bicycle which he assembles magically. Using this, he is able yet again to evade them by riding the bike through mid air. Then, taking refuge in an apartment building, he is found once more but mystifies the cops further by disappearing into thin air. Having distracted them by this, he cleverly flattens them between the wall and the door, rolls them up like a scroll, and hurls them out the window. A rag-picker, finding the unfortunate policemen, shakes them out and brings them back into shape. Slippery Jim, seeing this, jumps through the window and lands on the ground safely, but is seized by the cops. They jam him into the rag-picker's basket, and sitting on it so he cannot get out. The prankster takes care of this by seeping through a hole in the basket like a snake, and slithering into the police station, and turning back into a person, he is caught. The police are triumphant, but little do they realize the clever trick the pickpocket has in store for them next.
- DirectorDario RussoStarsDavid AshbyChris AsimosAnna CashmanWhen an otherworldly substance with amazing cloning properties falls into the hands of the evil criminal mastermind, Captain Maximum, only the extreme powers of the Italian Spiderman can save the world.
- DirectorAkiva SchafferStarsMichael BoltonThe Lonely IslandKate BockThe troupe recorded a music video with Bolton as Jack Sparrow, protagonist of the aforementioned film series. The clip, on which Bolton noted the trio intended to go "above and beyond", was recorded with tremendous energy and focus over two days. After its initial debut as an SNL Digital Short, the video was uploaded to YouTube and subsequently attained much online popularity. Bolton appears in costume as Jack Sparrow for a great deal of the video, complete with Sparrow's signature red bandanna, heavy eyeliner and goatee. The music video featured models Jenny Albright and Kate Bock in the club scene, and Danish singer Amalie Bruun as Jenny Curran, Forrest Gump's wife.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsPandora's BoxElaine Caswell
- DirectorBi GanStarsGuohua ChenYongzhong ChenHuan HuangA fairy tale that follows the relationship between man and cat.
- DirectorEbeneza BlancheStarsObongjayarLittle SimzThe track celebrates a well known phrase in Nigeria, a connection between Simz and Obongjayar and the extension of that to family and friends in Nigeria.