Why Everyone Should Love Short Films

I forgot how much I loved short films. I was recently out in Las Vegas for the MAGIC tradeshow (fashion-- apparel, accessories, sourcing, etc.) and I went with a friend to the Dam Boulder City short film festival (she was there with her parents and helping out and I tagged along), and we got to see the finalists of the shorts festival. Although a lot of them were good, my favorite was Fruitcake, which is about a man, although socially different than the majority, hits on a lot of the same things we all struggle with-- trying to fit in when he is still trying to define for himself what his life is and how to define his own self worth, etc.

I'm particularly drawn to shorts not only because I have an incredibly short attention span, but also because there's nothing excessive. It's almost as though it's the skeleton of a film laid out in its rawest form. The characters are usually introduced in the first frame-- most of the information given to the audience is given through the implication of actions, objects in the background and the scene. The things that we take for granted in many of the longer movies becomes that much more important in a short because the director really only has 12-15 minutes to tell the story (hopefully) with a storyline arc and everything. I also find that, because the viewer is thrust into things midway through, that it elicits almost an instinctual bond between the viewer and the main protagonist. For some unexplainable reason, I notice that I feel much more for the characters in a short than in a full length feature film. Maybe it's because you have more time to realize the various facets of a character with more time and you don't feel so purely supportive when you realize that they love so freely (but love married men), maybe it's because deciphering the many implications of their life make you feel an unexplainable kinship, maybe it's because shorts are often more purely based on core problems/emotions-- loneliness, heartbreak, displacement, isolation, etc. that are simpler than some full-length films (think of Star Trek, for example). Whatever the reason, go watch one. Thank me later.

PS- Don't overlook animated shorts. They're awesome too. Mr. Hublot? Awesome.