20 Must-Watch Short Films By Famous Directors
Greatest Short Films By Hollywood's Finest Directors
No cinema director is born perfect. Each went on to dabble with short films and academy assignments before they ever stepped into Hollywood. More often than not, these early projects defined the genre and style of the directors. Here are the titles with which great talents broke-through while chasing masterpieces on silver screen.
Next Floor (2008) - Denis Villeneuve
Years before Dune or Arrival, Villeneuve directed this grotesque and masterful 11-minute short. At an opulent, aristocratic banquet, a group of diners gorge themselves on a grotesque feast as the floor beneath them repeatedly collapses, sending them crashing down level after level. It’s a powerful, wordless, and visually stunning allegory for gluttony, class, and unsustainable consumption that showcases his early command of atmosphere and tension.
Doodlebug (1997) - Christopher Nolan
Before Memento or Inception, Nolan made this 3-minute, black-and-white mind-bender as a university student. A frantic, paranoid man in a grimy apartment tries to squash a small, bug-like creature. The short perfectly establishes Nolan’s career-long obsessions with time, identity, and paradoxical, M.C. Escher-like plot structures.
Vincent (1982) - Tim Burton
While working as a Disney animator, Tim Burton made this 6-minute, stop-motion masterpiece. Narrated by his idol, Vincent Price, it tells the story of a 7-year-old boy named Vincent Malloy who wants to be just like Vincent Price. It’s a gorgeous, funny, and melancholy poem that is the absolute essence of Burton's gothic style.
The Alphabet (1968) - David Lynch
This is perhaps the most terrifying 4-minute film ever made. A blend of live-action and grotesque stop-motion animation, the short is a living nightmare based on a story from Lynch's wife's niece, who was having bad dreams about learning the alphabet. It is pure, uncut, and primal Lynchian horror.
Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (1967) - George Lucas
This is the student film that launched an empire. Lucas created this sci-fi short at USC, depicting a man trying to escape a futuristic, dystopian underground society. Its stark visual style, focus on sound design, and themes of dehumanization were so strong that Francis Ford Coppola helped Lucas expand it into his first feature film, THX 1138.
Bon Voyage (1944) - Alfred Hitchcock
Yes, even Hitchcock made shorts. This was one of two French-language propaganda films he directed for the British Ministry of Information during WWII. It’s a taut, 26-minute thriller about an RAF gunner escaping occupied France, and it’s pure Hitchcock, complete with spies, misdirection, and a classic "MacGuffin."
Nimic (2019) - Yorgos Lanthimos
A perfect distillation of Lanthimos's brand of unsettling, deadpan horror. A professional cellist (Matt Dillon) has a bizarre encounter on the subway that leads to his entire life being systematically usurped by a stranger. It’s a chilling, 12-minute suburban nightmare about identity and domesticity that only the director of The Lobster could make.
Tuileries (2006) - Coen brothers
Part of the anthology film Paris, je t'aime, this five-minute sketch is pure, uncut Coen brothers. Steve Buscemi plays an American tourist in a Paris metro station who, by failing to follow the unwritten rules of public space (don't stare), gets violently entangled with a local couple. It’s a perfectly timed, awkward, and hilarious joke.
The Big Shave (1967) - Martin Scorsese
Scorsese’s student film is a shocking, 5-minute explosion of visceral filmmaking. A clean-cut young man lathers up his face and begins to shave... and shave... and shave, cutting himself to ribbons in a graphic display of self-mutilation. Set to a jaunty big-band tune, it’s a powerful and unforgettable anti-Vietnam War allegory that announced a major new talent.
Day of the Fight (1951) - Stanley Kubrick
Before his feature-film career, a young Stanley Kubrick was a photographer for Look magazine. He created this 16-minute documentary, his first-ever film, by following boxer Walter Cartier on the day of a big match. You can already see Kubrick's signature fascination with obsession, process, and the cold, unblinking eye of the camera.
An Exercise in Discipline: Peel (1982) - Jane Campion
Before The Piano, Jane Campion won the Short Film Palme d'Or at Cannes for this 9-minute film. What begins as a simple, repetitive family car ride turns into a tense, complex psychological battle after a boy throws an orange peel out the window. It’s a masterful look at family dysfunction and the tiny, absurd power struggles that define us.
I'm Here (2010) - Spike Jonze
This is a melancholy sci-fi romance about two robots (played by Andrew Garfield and Sienna Guillory in costume) living in L.A. who fall in love. As the female robot becomes more adventurous, she damages her limbs, and the male robot begins giving her his own. It’s a heartbreaking, beautiful, and quirky fable about love and self-sacrifice by the ace filmmaker Spike Jonze.
Anima (2019) - Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson's short film is a breathtaking, 15-minute "one-reeler" set to three songs from Thom Yorke's album of the same name. Yorke stars as a man in a dystopian, commuter-filled world trying to reconnect with a woman (Dajana Roncione). It’s a stunning piece of choreography and silent storytelling, essentially a perfect visual album directed by a modern master.
Two Men and a Wardrobe (1958) - Roman Polanski
A foundational work of Polish cinema, Polanski’s 15-minute student film is a masterpiece of surreal, absurdist storytelling. Two men emerge from the sea carrying a large, antique wardrobe. They are rejected by society at every turn—from a tram, a restaurant, and even a group of thugs—before they wordlessly return to the sea. It’s a powerful, tragic, and darkly funny fable.
The Human Voice (2020) - Pedro Almodóvar
Almodóvar’s first English-language film is a 30-minute tour-de-force starring Tilda Swinton. She plays a woman on the edge, waiting by the phone for a call from the lover who just left her. Set in a gorgeous, stage-like apartment, it’s a vibrant, melodramatic, and emotionally raw showcase for two incredible artists at the height of their powers.
Hotel Chevalier (2007) - Wes Anderson
A perfect, 13-minute jewel of a film. Intended as a prologue to The Darjeeling Limited, this short stands on its own as a masterpiece of Wes Anderson's style. Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman play two former lovers reuniting in a Parisian hotel room. It's a bittersweet, stylish, and emotionally dense story of lingering heartache.
Salut les Cubains (1963) - Agnès Varda
The godmother of the French New Wave, Agnès Varda created this playful "photo-roman" (picture-story) from over 1,500 photos she took during a trip to post-revolution Cuba. It’s a rhythmic, joyful, and deeply charming look at a country and its culture, all driven by Varda's insatiably curious and energetic voice.
Six Shooter (2004) - Martin McDonagh
Before In Bruges or Banshees of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for this. Brendan Gleeson plays a man on a train journey home just hours after his wife's death. He encounters a strange, possibly psychotic young man, and the rest is pure McDonagh: outrageously dark comedy, sudden violence, and profound, hidden sadness.
Two Cars, One Night (2004) - Taika Waititi
This short earned Taika Waititi an Oscar nomination and established his signature style. Two young Māori kids and one slightly older girl wait in separate cars for their parents in a pub parking lot. What starts as a childish rivalry blossoms into a shy, awkward, and incredibly sweet friendship. It perfectly balances goofy humor with genuine, unforced heart.
Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) - Maya Deren
Not just a famous short, but one of the most important and influential films ever made. Maya Deren’s 14-minute experimental film uses a dream-like, cyclical narrative (a woman enters a house, sees a knife, falls asleep, and it repeats) to create a disorienting and hypnotic masterpiece. It’s the foundational text of American avant-garde cinema.
