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By David Young · January 24, 2024
Every year, we get a good taste of what the filmmaking landscape offers through festivals, with one of the most prominent examples being the Sundance Film Festival and the Sundance shorts. No matter the genre, short films have found a prestigous home at Sundance, and some favorites stand out.
As you gear up for Sundance 2024, let’s look back and watch some of the Sundance shorts that made waves at the film festival over the years!
Read More: The Weird Side of Sundance: Writing Midnight Movies
Short Filmmaking Award | Sundance 2007
Bill has to reckon with the meaning of his life, or lack thereof, after a series of dark and troubling events.
Short Film Jury Prize: Non-Fiction | Sundance 2016
A short doc follows an elderly Jewish woman trying bacon for the first time.
Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction | Sundance 2017
After traveling hundreds of miles, a woman must wait another twenty-four hours before she can get an abortion.
Nominated, Short Film Grand Jury Prize | Sundance 2018
In a city overflowing with buildings and slums, Smita must find herself a house to rent. She is hard-working, honest, and respectful–the ideal tenant–except for one glaring flaw. She is a middle-class Indian woman without a husband. It is an intimate perspective on the identity of the “Ideal Indian Female” in urban India today.
Short Filmmaking Award: Special Jury Prize | Sundance 2018
Set in a surface mine, two boys sink into a seemingly innocent power game with Mother Nature as the sole observer.
Short Filmmaking Award | Sundance 2008
An Inuit hunter drives his dog team out on the frozen Arctic Ocean in search of seals, but, instead, becomes a witness to murder.
Short Filmmaking Award: Special Jury Prize | Sundance 2018
In this raw and graceful testimony of intersectional womanhood, a trans girl has to care for her Italian grandmother. She assumes that her Nonna disapproves of her, but discovers a tender bond in their shared vulnerability.
Short Filmmaking Award: Special Jury Prize | Sundance 2018
Faced with an emergency, a group of young Black and Latino friends carefully weigh the pros and cons of calling the police.
Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction | Sundance 2019
An undocumented Turkish pedicab driver unwittingly draws police attention, endangering his brother, his community, and himself.
Short Film Jury Award: Animation | Sundance 2021
For ten years, a filmmaker has tried to make a film of his grandfather’s Algerian war souvenirs.
Short Filmmaking Award: International | Sundance 2011
After three months submerged underwater, the men have become savages. Oleg fears that losing perspective may mean losing himself.
Short Film Jury Award: Non-Fiction | Sundance 2021
In 1970, Black educators in Chicago developed an alphabet flashcard set to provide Black-centered teaching materials to the vastly white educational landscape, and the Black ABCs were born.
Read More: Short Films: Showcase Your Ability
Nominated, Short Film Grand Jury Prize | Sundance 2018
The short documentary follows director Charlie Tyrell as he tries to uncover a better understanding of his deceased father through the random objects he inherited, including a pile of dirty VHS movies.
Short Film Jury Prize: Animation | Sundance 2014
A man is hired to compile the definitive history of human existence before the planet blows up.
Short Film Jury Award: Animation | Sundance 2019
Three Renees go on a quest to find God, who is also Renee. As they travel the hills and valleys of Renee, they discover all the great joys, trials, and mysteries of being Renee.
Short Film Jury Award: Animation | Sundance 2022
On a late-night bus, a panicked scream shatters the calm of the night. A stolen necklace is stolen leads to a tragic and fatal road accident. The series of events that follow reveal love, hatred, and vengeance.
Nominated, Short Film Grand Jury Prize | Sundance 2019
Valentina, a day-walking Black vampire protected from the sun by melanin, finds it difficult to suppress her bloodlust when a new woman introduces her estranged twin daughters. In the near future, New York City Black Vampires walk among us.
Short Filmmaking Award | Sundance 2003
From the working-class, hard-drinking Irish to the coiffed gay Black men, this fascinating pictorial history of a New York City bar’s culture unfolds over a ten-year reign.
Nominated, Short Film Grand Jury Prize | Sundance 2019
Fran likes to think about dying. When she makes a guy in the office laugh, he wants more–a movie date, a slice of pie, a conversation. But if dating him means learning to live, she’s pretty sure she cannot do that.
Short Filmmaking Award | Sundance 2010
Victor, a twelve-year-old boy growing up on New York City’s Lower East Side, experiences what growing up is all about.
Short Film Jury Prize: Animation | Sundance 2016
A stop-motion felted oddball slips through the floors into the past, uncovering the deepest parts of his psyche in his pursuit of self-understanding.
Short Filmmaking Award: International | Sundance 2008
A father rediscovers his fear of confrontation at the worst possible time.
Nominated, Short Film Grand Jury Prize | Sundance 2017
A young woman incurs the internet’s wrath after inadvertently becoming a viral sensation.
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Sundance shorts are an easy way to know what tickles your fancy. In preparation for the films in the 2024 program, you can watch some impactful Sundance shorts from years past. Be it a documentary, a thriller, or an animated dark comedy, know that the palate at Sundance is always diverse!
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