Top 60 Shorts of the 2020s (so far): Part 1

Hey everyone! ShortStick just turned 2 years old this month. Seeing as we are halfway through the decade, to celebrate, we are releasing our list of Top 60 shorts of the 2020s (so far). Between the four of us we have watched thousands of shorts released this decade and after much deliberation lowered it down to 60 we thought were the best. This list is far from definitive but based off a number of factors including awards success, festival success and our own taste and opinions. It contains animated, documentary, live action and experimental films. We decided to release alphabetically because depending which of the four of us you ask any of these could be ranked In the top 10. Scroll down to see what made the list!

Alarms (dir. Nicolas Panay, 2024)

If you know my taste in film, I love films that stress me out. Alarms takes work-life balance to a whole new level, turns up the intensity to 10 and doesn’t let up through the entire runtime. Taking place at a construction site, chaos awaits at every turn as deadlines need to be met. The script, production design and camerawork mesh perfectly together in a way that lets you feel the anxiety the character is going through at every moment. Nicolas Panay is becoming one of my favourite directors in short film as both his directorial debut short Breakpoint and now his sophomore effort Alarms very deservingly qualified for the Oscars. 

What users on letterboxd are saying:

Watch here: https://www.myfilmfriend.org/en/movies/c47ec6ea-5341-4445-92a8-fba0038712f9

-BM

Aphasia (dir. Marielle Dalpe, 2023)

A bracingly expressionistic and emotionally devastating depiction of neurocognitive deterioration using a strong and emotive visual aesthetic and clever sound design that highlights the voice performance by Clare Coulter. An extremely distressing three minutes of film, Aphasia is perhaps the most affecting, most heartbreaking animated film of the decade, packing its short runtime with an emotional wallop.

What user on letterboxd are saying:

Aphasia can be streamed on the National Film Board of Canada’s website: https://www.nfb.ca/film/aphasia/

Read our full review here: https://www.shortstickfilms.com/post/reviews-from-the-ottawa-international-animation-festival

-JH

Bear (Ours) (dir. Morgane Frund, 2022)

Urs Amrein, an amateur nature photographer, contacts a film school requesting assistance in editing his footage into a film. Morgane Frund who is a student at the school answers his call and gets to work shifting through his archive of footage and digitizing the content. In doing so she discovers footage of young women being filmed without their consent.

This marks the start of a very direct and honest conversation between the two. Morgane impressively navigates the delicate subject matter in a constructive way, without making it ever feel overly dramatised or losing focus of the core social issue at hand. While it is an oddly specific situation that she finds herself in, this is clearly a symptom of a larger social issue. Intersecting carefully selected images from the archive, alongside recollections of moments from her own life, Frund delivers a piece which far exceeds the sum of its parts, with a level of clear headedness and maturity we do not see too often. As unnerving and uncomfortable as the topic is for women and men alike, the resulting film is a much needed reality check in its step towards a better tomorrow.

What users on letterboxd are saying:

Read our full review here: https://www.shortstickfilms.com/post/bear-review

-RH

Bestia (dir. Hugo Covarrubias, 2021)

Bestia on the surface may seem like a very odd story, but in fact it is based off true events during the brutal military dictatorship in 70s/80s Chile. In this stop-motion short, the porcelain-like character animatio seems fitting for the main character. A hardened and stoic character on the outside but in reality seems fragile and breakable as she wrestles with her relationship wth her dog, her body and her fears and frustrations. It reveals both a fractured self and country as a whole. Bestia won a ton of awards including the Annecy Crystal for Best Short film, best animation at Clermont-Ferrand and Best Short Subject at the Annie Awards. It was also nominated for Best Animated Short at the 94th Academy Awards.

What users on letterboxd are saying:

Watch here: https://vurchel.com/v/15989/bestia-hugo-covarrubias

-BM

Between Earth and Sky (dir. Andrew Nadkarni, 2023)

Director Andrew Nadkarni portrays a world-class professional. In Between Earth and Sky, we learn more about Nalini Nadkarni, one of the most renowned ecologists, and Andrew's aunt. The film is more of an ode to her immense contribution to her field than a family documentary. Yet, it is a reminder of how films can unveil the importance of multiple professionals that may be unknown to the general public. In this sense, the film is an invitation to give flowers to a crucial ecologist white remaining charming throughout. It also delivers an emotional background to Nalini’s life as she opens up about her childhood and how it shaped who she is today.

What users on letterboxd are saying:

Watch here: https://vimeo.com/channels/staffpicks/881185201

Read our full review here: https://www.shortstickfilms.com/post/between-earth-sky-review-and-q-a-with-director-andrew-nadkarni

-PL

A Brighter Summer Day for the Lady Avengers (dir. Birdy Wei-Ting Hung, 2024)

Birdy Wei-Ting Hung’s A Brighter Summer Day for the Lady Avengers puts the entire history of Taiwanese film in a genre blender to create a thrillingly new kind of mashup. A Brighter Summer Day for the Lady Avengers is a celluloid dream shot through with Hung’s interests in experimental aesthetics and builds a vivid narrative of sexual awakening, exploring gender and sexuality, historical trauma, affect, the abject, and (perhaps most of all) pleasure.

What users on letterboxd are saying:

Read our full review here: https://www.shortstickfilms.com/post/student-academy-awards-part-6-a-brighter-summer-day-for-the-lady-avengers-birdy-wei-ting-hung

-JH

Can I Hug You? (dir. Elahe Esmaili, 2023)

Shot in Qom, Iran, we follow along as Hossein Behboudi Rad returns to visit his family. In a country with many restrictions imposed on women in the name of ‘sexual safety’, Hossein did not experience a safe childhood but was instead subject to sexual assault by older men. Together with his wife Elahe (also credited as writer-director of the film) Hossein confronts his trauma in this very intimate documentary. On the roof of his family home, surrounded by those closest to him, he is finally allowed to have a conversation that feels like it has been bubbling beneath the surface for decades.

What letterboxd users are saying:

-RH

Censor of Dreams (dirs. Raphaël Rodriguez and Léo Berne, 2021)

Within the first few minutes of Censor of Dreams the writer-directors Leo Berne and Raphaël Rodriguez establish a fantastical world that feels expansive yet somehow plausible, with characters that immediately draw the viewers in. We see a team lead by ‘The Censor’ who night after night turns glimpses of Yoko's memories into dream scenarios, softening the impact of scary or depressing images. The stakes build up as the film crescendos in a heartbreakingly gorgeous final shot.

The script is loosely based on Yasutaka Tsutsui’s book “Yume no ken’estukan” (“The Censor of Dreams”), who is perhaps most known for the novel Paprika (later adapted for the screen by Satoshi Kon). Truly pushing the limits on how to build immersiveness with limited resources, this is a film that deserves repeat viewings.

What letterboxd users are saying:

Watch on Criterion Channel

-RH

Clodagh (dir. Portia A. Buckley, 2024)

Director Portia A. Buckley delivers an outstanding commentary on artistry, faith, and morality in Clodagh. Alongside the brilliant work by the rising phenomenon cinematographer Jomo Fray (Nickel Boys), Portia and Jomo explore dance through an elegant look delivered by shooting it in film. Besides the visual brilliance, Clodagh presents Katelyn Rose Downey, a talented young actor who gives soul to the titular character. The result is a short film blending sensible directing, elaborate cinematography, and newcomer talents to confront the church's morality. 

What letterboxd users are saying:

-PL

earthearthearth (dir. Daïchi Saïto, 2021)

The expansive mountainscapes of the Andes are the basis for this 35mm reverie by film artist Daïchi Saïto. Propelled by the free, pulsating improvisation of saxophonist Jason Sharp, in which his heartbeat and breathing play a prominent role, the series of images slowly becomes more abstract. Saïto’s strikingly alien landscape images were made by running colour and black-and-white film through a camera simultaneously, and the end result is a hypnotic, sensory meditation on our earth.

What letterboxd users are saying:

-JH