99¢ Pizza (2022) [CINEJOY 2023]

I don’t know if Director Lucas Ansel was attempting to mimic a dream, if so, he comes damn close to the general feeling of being in one. Created with some striking stop motion animation, “99¢ Pizza” is a bizarre short but sweet thriller that works as some really trippy animated fare.

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The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and the Horse (2022)

“Asking for help isn’t giving up. It’s refusing to give up.” 

Based on a best selling book by British author and illustrator Charles Mackesy, who co-wrote and co-directed the film version, “The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and the Horse” is a beautiful short worthy of a young audience. It was released around the holidays in 2022, and while it does compliment the Christmas aesthetic, it works wonderfully as a genuine fable about empathy and innocence.

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Satisfaction Guaranteed (2017)

Director Yue Ma’s short horror comedy watches a lot like a gory version of “The Stepford Wives.” Much like its predecessor, it’s a movie that centers on domestication and chauvinism, as well as the idealized image of women. All of it is packed with a dark sense of humor, and some great turning of the tables. Much of “Satisfaction Guaranteed” garners an admirably dark sense of humor with a satirical and warped tone from beginning to end.

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Fever (2022)

Director Brian K. Rosenthal’s “Fever” is a short but sweet spooky tale that uses a parent’s anxiety against them. He accentuates the anxiety with the introduction of a spooky creature, one that has absolute feature length potential. Fingers crossed. “Fever” does what most spooky stories do by taking a real world anxiety and completely elevates it in to a horrifying tale.

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My Eyes Are Up Here (2022)

Director Nathan Morris’ “My Eyes Are Up Here” is the kind of romantic comedy film that you don’t see often in the mainstream. It’s a short that I really wanted more of, because his short, clocking in at fourteen minutes, feels like the prologue to a very funny, and quite sweet tale of two people who find destiny after a drunken night in bed. “My Eyes Are Up Here” is a very sweet and entertaining slice of life that works toward subverting and breaking a lot of preconceived notions about the disabled.

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Miles Behind: A Spider-Man Fan Film (2022)

Director and Writer Tito Guillen’s short fan film for Miles Morales has a lot of feature film potential. It’s sad that it took so long for Miles Morales to garner his own animated film, but when it comes to feature films I think he could be an icon. That’s proven in “Miles Behind,” Tito Guillen’s tribute to Spider-Man that touches upon very socially relevant topics.

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Charlie and the Hunt (2022) [Slamdance 2023]

UNSTOPPABLE SHORTS BLOCK 2
If you’re looking for a break from the heavier and political fare at “Slamdance,” Jenn Shaw’s “Charlie and the Hunt” is the perfect antidote. It’s rare that there are such wholesome shorts featured and it’s nice to see something a lot more about whimsy and the relationships that we hold near and dear to our hearts.

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