Top 60 Shorts of the 2020s (so far): Part 2

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!

Electra (dir. Daria Kashcheeva, 2023)

Daria Kashcheeva’s wild visual poem has the young Electra go through her most painful memories to let her suppressed feelings come out. In the end, she is ready to reveal what has really happened during her 10th birthday. Kashcheeva uses the animation method of Pixilation, a stop motion technique in which live actors are used frame-by-frame, repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame. Electra is an ambitious epic that has to be seen to be believed.

What letterboxd users are saying:

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

-JH

Endling (dir. Kelly Yu, 2024)

An endling is the last known individual of a species or subspecies. Once the endling dies, the species becomes extinct. This is the premise of Kelly Yu’s whimsically devastating speculative fiction short film Endling (a product of Season 4 of the Indeed Rising Voices program) . Yu’s work is driven by a deep fascination with finding humanity in the absurd, as well as exploring complex familial relationships and cultural identity through an "East-meets-West" lens. We all simply adored this mockumentary, securing its spot on this list of the top shorts of the decade.

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Watch here: https://risingvoicesfilms.com/film/endling/

Read our full review here: https://www.shortstickfilms.com/post/hollyshorts-film-festival-review-roundup-part-2

-BM

EVENTIDE (dir. Sharon Lockhart, 2022)

Shot in Gotland, Sweden during the annual Perseid meteor shower as dusk falls, the abstract and allegorical single-take EVENTIDE records a group of people as they roam the rugged, coastal landscape in an act of remembrance. Young women with flashlights weave in and out of the camera’s purview, in search of what? We search the frame for answers, just as the women search, and EVENTIDE becomes about the exploration of landscape, communal relations, and solitary searching. Locating drama in the real-time shift of evening fading into night, this is perhaps Lockhart’s most optical and painterly moving image to date.

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-JH

Haulout (dirs. Maxim Arbugaev, Evgenia Arbugaeva, 2022)

In one of the most jaw-dropping shots seen in a documentary short, Haulout shows an empty beach being filled to the brim with walrus’ during migration. This shot alone gives Haulout a place on this list. On the coast of the Siberian Arctic, Haulout follows a lone marine biologist as he studies these migrations and the effect climate change and warming seas is having on them. Haulout is filled with excellent cinematography and sound design, as it immerses you deeply into this unforgettable short. 

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Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mKBZ9dy5fQ

-BM

Ice Merchants (dir, João Gonzalez, 2022)

Portuguese animation is a rising force in the world industry. Their varied artistry in styles and storytelling presents new possibilities to the medium. One of the most prominent exponents of this newer generation of Portuguese animators, João Gonzalez, presented his unforgettable Ice Merchants. Rightfully nominated for an Academy Award, the first for a Portuguese film, the short portrays the unique bonding between a father and his son. Living in the Alps, they perform every activity together in each other's company. The gorgeous drawing style, stylish animation, and clever visual construction create a simple but emotional story about family love. It is not only a trailblazer to the country's animation history but a grand work that deserves endless praise. 

What letterboxd users are saying:

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhj74ZjfaQ8

-BM

I'm Not a Robot, (dir. Victoria Warmerdam, 2023)

Victoria Warmedam’s I’m Not a Robot (Ik Ben Geen Robot) follows a young music producer, Lara (Ellen Parren). One day at work when trying to sign into a program the Captcha verifying system does not recognize her as a human being leading Lara to embark on a journey of questioning herself as a human. The dark comedy reflects on what it means to be a human and the societal formation makes the film a wild ride to follow. The spot-on jokes and the kinetic directing create a singular experience of deepening the nuances of existence and how hard truths can transform our perceptions. 

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Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VrLQXR7mKU

-BM

Incident (dir. Bill Morrison, 2023)

Bill Morrison is a renowned experimental filmmaker for his work about decaying film. His films Decasia and Dawson City: Frozen Time are often shown in arthouse cinema circuits and referenced by film critics and essayists. In the film incident, Bill takes a different approach to his filmography. Instead of the limited decaying films that time is erasing, he analyzes the unlimited quantity of footage from digital devices, a CCTV camera. Diving into hours of material from a street CCTV device, Bill confronts the official story about the death of Harith "Snoop" Augustus. The directing shifts from an overall view from the street to the officers' bodycams, and shows how they forged a narrative to justify their brutality. Incident drifts from Morrison's usual path, but it is a monumental documentary that uses its footage to argue against the status quo.

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-PL

In The Shadow of the Cypress (dirs. Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani, 2023)

Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani use a beautifully aesthetic colour palette to narrate the story of a former captain suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who lives with his daughter by the seaside. Their quiet life together shifts abruptly when an event suddenly changes their day-to-day lives. The short film received many international awards, Oscar-qualifying Best Animation prizes from Tribeca, Animayo, LA Shorts, and Spark Animation. It also won best animated short at the 97th Academy Awards. 

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Read our interview with the filmmakers here: https://www.shortstickfilms.com/post/interview-with-hossein-molayemi-and-shirin-sohani-on-in-the-shadow-of-the-cypress

Watch here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/intheshadowofthecypress

-BM

An Irish Goodbye (dirs. Tom Berkeley and Ross White, 2022)

The writer-director duo Tom Berkeley Ross White brought us the drama comedy An Irish Goodbye, which depicts the story of the two brothers Turlough and Lorcan who are reunited by their mothers passing. Matching the bleak setting with foul dialogue, barren landscape and a solemn soundtrack, we instantly appreciate the gravity of the situation. However, things take a turn when the local pastor finds their mother’s unfulfilled bucket list and the brothers decide to fulfill her wishes posthumously. In equal measures heartwarming and relatable, this is one of those small stories that sticks with you long past the credits.

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What on Kanopy (US) or rent on Amazon Prime

-RH

It’s a Date (dir. Nadia Parfan, 2022)

It’s a Date transplants Claude Lelouch’s 1972 short film C'était un Rendez-vous to Kyiv in 2022. A car races at breakneck speed through the city at dawn. Filmed from a subjective camera angle in a single unedited shot, this film captures the emotions in a state of emergency caused by the war. Instead of the delirious romance of Lelouch’s Parisian original, director Nadia Parfan’s race through the Ukrainian city gives It’s a Date a sense of emergency, the roads mostly abandoned except for military vehicles and ambulances. An urgent and essential film.

What letterboxd users are saying:

-JH