- One of the highlights of this year’s No Budget Film Festival was Andrew Crabtree’s Planning Ahead, which won the festival’s Critic’s Choice Award. A sweetly acerbic little tale, it stars Emma Fasler and Bill Daddario as an engaged couple struggling to plan their wedding without losing their minds. In a mere seven minutes, Crabtree sends his characters on a highly emotional and slightly uncomfortable journey that keeps us enchanted for the duration. To see the film, click here.
- For a blood-soaked comedic treat, take a look at Job, Joris, and Marieke’s Mute, an animated short set in a world in which people are born without mouths – despite the fact that many mouth-based items, such as pacifiers, are still part of everyday life. When an accident with a knife alerts the silent society to the possibility of creating their own mouths, chaos and hilarity ensues. The animation is top-notch, and the final payoff is delightfully unexpected. The film can be found here.
- It takes a great deal of skill to tell a story with no obvious exposition, and in That Day, Danny Lacey proves that he has that skill in spades. In nine minutes, he delicately unfolds the tale of a group of men and women who come together in an effort to piece together their memories of a childhood trauma that still torments them. It’s a subtle, haunting short, with perfect pacing that helps keep us guessing until the very end. Click here to see the film.
- If it’s something more abstract you’re after, Paul Trillo’s Salience is for you. It’s essentially five minutes of invisible human silhouettes coming into view by being hit with colored dust. Whether or not it means anything is questionable, but it’s certainly a gorgeous short. To view it, click here.
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