Less is more?

Film was over a decade old before the first 'feature films' arrived, but almost ever since short films have been in the shadow of their longer cousins. Shorts may frequently be a 'calling card' for directors keen to break into features - as the likes of Ken Russell, Ridley and Tony Scott, Shane Meadows and Lynne Ramsay (and many others) succesfully did after early compact efforts - but they can also be stylish, experimental, challenging, energetic, fascinating and important in their own right.

Bewildering in their variety (fiction or documentary, pop promo or advert, cartoon or gallery installation) short films are more numerous and often more individual than features, and even if they may never match the 'full-length' film for glamour, they deserve to be celebrated.

Short Films