From micro-movies to viral hits, short film commands our dwindling attention to twist our tastes, dreams and view of the world itself. Always one step ahead of the creative landscape, the genre is a natural home for the visionary, and an outlet for the stories that might otherwise not be told. In 2023, short film is as moving and unorthodox as ever.
This September, The Smalls Film Festival returns to London for its sixteenth annual edition, hosting a celebration of the year’s very best shorts at Curzon Hoxton cinema. Taking place over the weekend of Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th September, audiences are invited to seven feature-length programmes spanning Animation, Comedy, Do
The screenings launch on Saturday with the acclaimed Student Film category. These ten exceptional shorts have been picked for their full-blooded flair and intelligent originality, with highlights including Lachlan Pendragon’s ‘An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It’ (Student Academy Awards Winner, Animation). It’s followed by awkward entanglements and teenagers-in-the-woods horror in the Comedy programme, an unmissable, masterful insight into the genre-spanning ways that filmmakers expose the absurd, poignant and ever more unexpected ways to make us laugh.
With star turns from James Blake, Obongjayar and Slowthai, the Music Video screening unleashes everything freaky and experimental, heartfelt and relatable. Often simple in concept yet masterful in execution – and, of course, perfectly set to a beat – this genre is designed to grab your attention, bury deep into your brain and get you dancing.
The Drama programme closes Saturday, featuring jittery flight attendants, delicate teenage curiosity and an unearthly presence infecting the streets of New York. Highlights include ‘Snow In September’ (Best Short Film, Venice Film Festival).
Opening the Sunday screenings is Change, seven remarkable documentaries that take us across permeable borders and prison systems, into the Industrial Age, youth empowerment and human nature itself. Don’t miss ‘The Sentence of Michael Thompson’ (SXSW Documentary Shorts Audience Award). The Animation programme follows, engaging viewers with daring style and vision. From a tennis ball on his day off to a psychological thriller at sea, the films capture humour, happiness, anxiety and romance with the limitless creativity that only animation can offer.
Closing the festival on Sunday evening, Documentary reveals authentic voices and hidden stories that immerse us in different worlds, never far from our own. Featuring the endearing search for a tribute by BAFTA Scotland-winning Duncan Cowles (‘Outlets’) and the effects of capitalism and corporate accountability on the opioid crisis (‘The Family Statement’), these six short films capture the complex truth of a moment – and touch us to our core.
Full programme:
Student Film – Saturday 23rd September, 1pm
Comedy – Saturday 23rd September, 3pm
Music Video – Saturday 23rd September, 5pm
Drama – Saturday 23rd September, 6.30pm
Change – Sunday 24th September, 1pm
Animation – Sunday 24th September, 3.15pm
Documentary – Sunday 24th September, 5.15pm