Top 10 Short Films of 2018

Behold, 2018 is now gone, leaving behind a trail of glorious films. Our favorite part of the year has to be revisiting all our Featured Shorts to dig out the Top 10 of the year. The task was daunting in 2018, as over 20 films could of easily slipped into the top.

Here are Film Shortage’s Top 10 Shorts of the year, these are films featured in 2018 – not necessarily released in 2018. Enjoy! 

10. I Know Jake Gyllenhaal is Going to Fuck My Girlfriend (United States)

If we gave out awards for best actors, Sean Wing would probably take it for his performance in ‘I Know Jake Gyllenhaal is Going to Fuck My Girlfriend‘. Ok it might not be a Gyllenhaal performance, but Sean (who also wrote the script) was able to drive the story through his enigmatic paranoid reactions. The film also shows how far a silly idea can go, with the right storytelling vehicle (directed by Nino Mancuso) and cast to carry it all, hilarious wonders can be created.

9. Theo and Celeste (Australia)

Imagination runs deep in Hannah Dougherty’s romantic animated short Theo and Celeste. Mixing live-action and stop-motion animated styles, we are drawn in by its wonderful color palette and silly propping. But the it’s film’s charming story that truly captures our hearts to land a spot in this year’s Top 10! 

8. Girl of The Sky (Ukraine)

Girl of The Sky gives us possibly the most satisfying ending of all this year. It’s #TimesUp Ukraine style, 1000 feet in the sky. With so much to leave us cringing and on edge, the film’s never-ending rising suspense is literally cliffhanging. 

7. Ostrich (United Kingdom)

Then comes the film about political power. After yet another year of great political tensions, Patrick Walsh’s directional debut takes us behind closed doors with a journalist trying to take down a no-nonsense Deputy Finance Minister. Structure, directing, writing and acting all contribute to Ostrich‘s memorable watch.

6. Scrambled (Netherlands)

A wonderfully styled film with a gorgeous soft tone and color selection. But the true difference maker in Scrambled is how they managed to bring a Rubik’s Cube to life. And more than life, it had an incredibly charming character and range of emotions that we can easily relate to. 

5. The Pooka (United States)

Starring Chris Sullivan from NBC’s hit series This Is Us, Luke Boyce’s striking piece takes us on a real bizarre rabbit hole. As fluffy as it seems, The Pooka pulls its share of highly dramatic sensations to brilliantly bring us on an unprecedented journey, despite the familiar theme at base.

4. I Know You From Somewhere (United States)

The twisted dark side of the internet. Andrew Fitzgerald‘s I Know You From Somewhere shows us the wrath of an inadvertent viral sensation. The film takes the common and recurring themes often seen these days, but executes it in a real dynamic fashion skipping any tackiness. An A-class cast with a special mention to Angela Trimbur who squeezed into our Top 10 twice (See her in I Know Jake Gyllenhaal is Going to Fuck My Girlfriend).   

3. Edifice (United States)

Imagery can tell some unbelievable stories. Visionary director and VFX artist Ash Thorp previously reached the Top 10 in 2016 with the highly conceptual film Lost Boy. This year he introduces Edifice, a short film about who we are, where we come from, and where we are heading; it’s a journey from stardust to singularity. 

2. A Report on Connected Events (France)

It wouldn’t be a real Top 10 without a production from Post Panic Pictures: Sundays (#1 2015), Lost Boy (#2 2016).  A Report on Connected Events is a movie buff’s dream film, a masterpiece that explores iconic moments in film and television history, blurring the lines between our reality and some of our favourite stories. Try to find all the references, or read our exclusive interview with Mischa Rozema where we reveal most of (but not all) the references.

1. Backstory (Germany)

And then we had a Backstory. A story about how everything we love, everything we learn, everything we build, everything we fear, will one day be gone. Joschka Laukeninks creates a story that spans a lifetime, and one that will forever be memorable in our minds. Backstory checkmarks everything we look for in a film, from photography to editing and acting, but exceeds our expectations in the sentimental feelings it makes us go through.

Congratulations to Joschka and his team, this film may have taken a year and a half to shoot, but it’s imprint will last forever! 

Honorary Mentions

Of course, picking only 10 films from the hundreds of featured films is quite a difficult task. Here are a couple of films that deserve an honorary mention and that just grazed the Top 10.