USA Tag Archive

Animation, Awards

How Nathan Engelhardt & Jeremy Spears Turned a “Love-Letter to Stop-Motion” into Oscar-Contender ‘Forevergreen’

Challenged by truth to materials, Nathan Engelhardt & Jeremy Spears developed a unique replacement animation system to give digital assets a physical weight.

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Awards, Live Action

Sam Davis Crafts an Ode to Vulnerability Via Men Who’d Never Dream of Showing It in Oscar-Winner ‘The Singers’

Through wholly unconventional casting, Sam Davis spotlights the unsung talents at the heart of his genre-bending short about men finally being heard, together.

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Awards, Documentary

Craig Renaud Mines 20 Years of War Journalism in Tribute to His Brother in ‘Armed Only With a Camera’

Craig Renaud discusses facing the impossible task of turning a tragedy into a cinematic tribute while wrestling with the ethical boundaries of showing death.

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Live Action, Premiere

A Real Life Marketplace Encounter Leads to the Wildly Entertaining Fever Dream That Is Olivia Accardo’s ‘Baby Tooth’

Olivia Accardo reveals how her encounter with a local seller led to her absurdist comedy short offering a potential boat buyer way more than he anticipated.

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Awards, Live Action

Julia Aks & Steve Pinder Turned Bloody Shame Into Period Parody in Oscar-Nominated ‘Jane Austen’s Period Drama’

Corset comedy, cramps and Academy glory; co-directors Aks & Pinder unpack the pun-inspired joyfully bloody road of their hilarious Oscar-nominated short.

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Film Festival

13 Standout Short Films from Sundance 2026

From familiar names to emerging voices, we dive into the 2026 Sundance lineup to spotlight thirteen must-watch short films.

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Live Action, Premiere

Mylissa Fitzsimmons Navigates the Messy Territory of Performing Adulthood in Two-Hander Motel Drama ‘I’m Not Sure’

Mylissa Fitzsimmons unpacks crafting a predatory game, blocking actor movement in a cramped motel to amplify the tension of every glance and approach.

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Live Action, Premiere

Annika Chavez Turns a Shared Bathtub Into an Uncertain Stage of Fluid Friendship in Her Wry Short ‘Three Minutes’

Annika Chavez breaks down how experimentation within an organic shoot helped her capture the unspoken weight of a life-changing moment shared in a bathroom.

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Live Action

Temperatures & Tensions Rise as a Grifter Faces the Music in Chelsie Pennello’s Hectic Comedy ‘Cherry-Colored Funk’

Orchestrating a symphony of controlled chaos, Chelsie Pennello & Corbett Blair reveal how they used the tiny confines of an ice cream shop set to full effect.

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Live Action, Premiere

Amandine Thomas & Gerardo Coello Escalante Capture the Uneasy Nuance of the Tourism Economy in Drama Short ‘SUSANA’

Amandine Thomas & Gerardo Coello Escalante explain why they broke the fourth wall to implicate viewers in the uncomfortable economic realities of mass tourism.

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Live Action, Premiere

Gus Reed Choreographs a Delicate Dance of Discontent in His Enigimatic Disquieting Short ‘Losing Season’

Gus Reed breaks down the precise blocking used to map a psychological power struggle when a woman's stagnation is disturbed by an uninvited visitor.

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Live Action, Premiere

Jessica Barr Blurs Performance And Personal Trauma In Her Intimate, Visually Claustrophobic Acting Short ‘Private Moments’

Jessica Barr discusses using the meta-narrative of an acting class to explore the pressure on female filmmakers to mine personal trauma for their art.

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