While the disruption of COVID-19 has affected the quantity of films available at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, little impact has been made on the quality of the offerings. The program features 72 feature length films, spanning across 29 countries, many of which are guaranteed to start conversations that will last through the year. Alongside these features are 50 short films, many artistically and emotionally resonant, and likely to spark discussions of their own. Even with the flexibility of an online film festival, Sundance offers much more content that can be consumed in a seven day period. While the narrative features tend to pull focus, don’t let the short films slip past your notice: they provide a glimpse of rising filmmakers and a preview of great work to come.
In your already packed schedule, it may be difficult to even get started traversing the many short film programs. Before the festival ends, check out these eight must-see short films from the 2021 Sundance lineup.
Bruiser
Directed by Miles Warren & Written by Ben Medina and Miles Warren; Part of Shorts Program 1
After his fathers gets into a fight at a bowling alley, young Darious is haunted by the ever looming question of manhood. With it’s haunting score and affecting cinematography, Bruiser builds in the pit of your stomach. Almost voyeuristic in its intimacy, the film provides insight into a formative moment in a young boy’s life through a touching father-son relationship. Warren and Medina’s work grapples with masculinity through the eyes of a child, revealing the pain often left in its wake. – Shania Russell
Misery Loves Company
Written & Directed by Sasha Lee; Part of the Animated Spotlight
Misery Loves Company is a striking burst of nostalgia that finds beauty in the simplest of situations. Seolgi is lying on a grassy field with her friends, watching shooting stars go by when she is hit by intrusive thoughts. All consuming, as they often are, her thoughts begin to bleed into reality — taking viewers on a trip through her rapidly moving mind. Lee’s stunning visuals are like interpretive dance, vivid and evocative. Progressing like a stream of consciousness music video, the film’s exploration of Seolgi’s mind is existential in its familiarity. – Shania Russell
Unlivable
Written & Directed by Mattheus Farias and Enock Carvalho; Part of Shorts Program 2
Unliveable examines the epidemic of trans murders in Brazil through the eyes of a mother. The film follows Marilene (Luciana Souza) in her search for her daughter Roberta, a trans woman who’s gone missing. Writer/director’s Farias and Carvalho take care to detail the restlessness of such a search, illustrating how quickly time can pass and how easily hope dwindles with each passing hour. Ominous as it is hopeful, the events of Unlivable are often without explanation but never beyond comprehension. Like a beacon of hope, the warmth of its promise is universal. – Shania Russell
Like The Ones I Used To Know
Written & Directed by Annie St-Pierre; Part of Shorts Program 4
Lit by the twinkle of red and green fairy lights, Denis (Steve Laplante) sits anxiously in his car. Utterly detached from the magic of Christmas Eve, he slowly works to build up enough courage to set foot in his former in-laws house. Inside, laughter, alcohol, sugar and cheer run rampant, exciting both children and adults in ways that only Holidays can. Like The Ones I Used To Know effortlessly dances between the warm glow of childhood and the subdued nature of “grown-up” disappointment. With this film, director Annie St-Pierre establishes herself as being especially attuned to the emotional journey of her characters, with a camera that both mirrors their unease and lives in their joys. Even in its undeniable sadness, her film is never bitter, embracing the hope often tethered to the Christmas spirit. Endearing and empathetic, this film captures the familiar warmth of childhood that tints even the melancholy moments. – Shania Russell
Kkum
Written & Directed by Kim Kang-min; Part of the Animated Spotlight
Mothers have a tendency towards superstition when it comes to their children. Their love manifests in visions, ideas and their famous intuition. Director Kang-min Kim’s film provides a moving look at his own relationship with his mother, through her animated dreams of his future. Kkum is a beautiful visualization of the way a mothers love can affect their child’s personhood, with the dreams depicting himself filtered through his mother. The film is wondrously tactile, using styrofoam stop-motion animation, with visual poetry to match Kim’s words. Their story provides a resonant illustration on the nature of dreams: emotionally tangible yet detached from reality. – Shania Russell
Raspberry
Written & Directed by Julian Doan; Part of Shorts Program 2
In seven short minutes, Julian Doan captures the overwhelming emotional spiral of grief. A family gathers around their father’s deceased body, each taking it in turns to say their final words. The son (Raymond Lee) is the most emotionally devastated in his physical performance, sitting alone on the other side of the room patiently awaiting his go to say goodbye to his father. The single location comedy drama shows the regression to childhood at the loss of someone so near and dear. Raspberry is a deeply resonant film about accepting every and all responses in the wake of death. A film about grief in every one of its forms. – Emily Maskell
This Is The Way We Rise
Directed by Ciara Lacy; Part of Documentary Shorts Program 1
Opening with gorgeous, sweeping imagery and the sharp, resonant words of Native Hawaiian slam poet Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, this film hits like a gut punch. This Is The Way We Rise centers around Osorio’s experience as a poet and her struggle with finding inspiration to fuel her art. Zeroing in on her work with the movement to protect sacred sites atop Mauna Kea, Hawai’i, the film explores the critical link between identity and creative process. You need not be a poet to connect to the film’s themes: Osorio’s story is intimate, universal, and emotionally punctuated by powerful performances of her poetry. – Shania Russell
Ghost Dogs
Written & Directed by Joe Cappa; Part of the Animated Spotlight
Don’t let the title fool you — Ghost Dogs is much weirder than it sounds. The short follows the day of a family’s new rescue dog, left home alone to be terrorized by his deceased brethren and a near-sentient roomba. Cappa’s film is gloriously imaginative, blending horror and comedy for a hauntingly experimental film. Ghost Dogs resembles the unique kind of weird you stumbled across on Adult Swim, when you were too young to even comprehend how mature the imagery was. At times Lovecraftian, while also taking inspiration from Kubrick, this film reflects impressive familiarity with the legacy of existential horror in a mere 11 minutes. – Shania Russell
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