Hidden Gems (Short Films)
This is a list of short films recommended by Listology users. Short films should have fewer than 300 votes on IMDb
Films here. Hidden Gems
Short films with links have more than one recommendation.
2
The Mascot (1934, Wladyslaw Starewicz)
Beep Bepp (1952, Chuck Jones)
A Game with Stones (1965, Jan Svankmajer)
Gagarin (1995, Alexij Kharitidi)
Cousin (1998, Adam Elliot)
Brother (1999, Adam Elliot)
1922
Nouvelles Luttes Extravagantes (1900, Georges Méliès)
Barbe-bleue (1901, Georges Méliès)
Le Locataire Diabolique (1909, Georges Méliès)
A Game with Stones (1965, Jan Svankmajer)
Gack Gack (2002, Olaf Encke)
Dansa Med Dvärgar (2003, Emelie Carlsson Gras)
kenji
Twilight of a Woman's Soul (1913, Yevgeni Bauer)
Child of the Big City (1914, Yevgeni Bauer)
Daydreams (1915, Yevgeni Bauer)
Town Rat, Country Rat (1927, Wladyslaw Starewicz)
L' Étoile de Mer (1928, Man Ray)
The Mascot (1934, Wladyslaw Starewicz)
Song of Ceylon (1934, Basil Wright)
A Colour Box (1935, Len Lye)
Night Mail (1936, Harry Watt & Basil Wright)
Listen to Britain (1942, Humphrey Jennings & Stewart McAllister)
Begone Dull Care (1949, Evelyn Lambart & Norman McLaren)
The Street (1976, Caroline Leaf)
Metamorphosis of Mr Samsa (1977, Caroline Leaf)
Denko (1993, Mohamed Camara)
Lukeprog
The Policemen's Little Run (1906, Ferdinand Zecca)
The Mascot (1934, Wladyslaw Starewicz)
Beep Bepp (1952, Chuck Jones)
The Pit, the Pendulum and Hope (1983, Jan Svankmajer)
mistercreepy
Report (1967, Bruce Conner)
Styx (1976, Jan Krawitz)
pianoshootis
Rough Sketch of a Proposed Film Dealing with the Powers of Ten and the Relative Size of Things in the Universe (1968, Charles Eames & Ray Eames)
Canhead (1996, Timothy Hittle)
Human Remains (1998, Jay Rosenblatt)
Russa03
Screwball Squirrel (1944, Tex Avery)
Beep Bepp (1952, Chuck Jones)
A Game with Stones (1965, Jan Svankmajer)
Chromophobia (1966, Raoul Servais)
Et Cetera (1966, Jan Svankmajer)
Punch and Judy (1966, Jan Svankmajer)
Historia Naturae, Suita (1967, Jan Svankmajer)
The Design (1981, Jiri Barta)
The Short and Curlies (1987, Mike Leigh)
Stille Nacht I (1988, Stephen & Timothy Quay)
War Story (1989, Peter Lord)
Stille Nacht IV (1993, Stephen & Timothy Quay)
Gagarin (1995, Alexij Kharitidi)
Uncle (1996, Adam Elliot)
Gasman (1997, Lynne Ramsay)
Overshadowed (1997, Neil Ishimine)
Cousin (1998, Adam Elliot)
The Old Lady and the Pigeons (1998, Sylvain Chomet)
At the Ends of the Earth (1999, Konstantin Bronzit)
Brother (1999, Adam Elliot)
Cloud Cover (2000, Lisbeth Svärling)
Ta Soeur (2001, Martin Valente)
An Eye for an Eye (2002, Shynola & Ruth Lingford)
One Minute Past Midnight (2004, Celia Galan Julve)
WB
Audition (1963, Milos Forman)
Ich Nicht (1969, Jörg-Michael Baldenius & Wolfgang Petersen)
Gagarin (1995, Alexij Kharitidi)
Cousin (1998, Adam Elliot)
Brother (1999, Adam Elliot)
Nicht auf den Mund (1999, Kathrin Feistl)
The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun (1999, Djibril Diop Mambéty)
Soins et Beauté (2000, Alejandra Rojo)
Candidature (2001, Emmanuel Bourdieu)
Dog (2001, Andrea Arnold)
Eat (2001, Bill Plympton)
Freunde (2001, Jan Krüger)
Tu Vois (2001, François Ruiz)
Maintenant (2002, Inés Rabadán)
Portrait (2002, Sergey Loznitsa)
How about "Hard Luck", and "Cops" by Buster Keaton, as well as "Shy Guy" (A hystericaly funny education film about the importance of wearing sweaters) And "Le Jetee", though it might have more than 450 votes. Shy Guy won't br on IMDB at all, though you can see it at archive.org
It's unbelievable how few votes some of these definite gems have:
Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
The Old Mill (1937)
Life of an American Fireman (1903)
One Froggy Evening (1955)
The Playhouse (1921)
The Policemen's Little Run (1906)
he Impossible Voyage (1904)
A Dog's Life (1918)
The Mascot (1934)
Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950)
The Floorwalker (1916)
Easy Street (1917)
The Rink (1916)
The Tramp (1915)
The Scarecrow (1920)
Powers of Ten (1977)
Beep, Beep (1952)
Harvie Krumpet (2003)
Well, that's a start, anyway.
Cheers. I think that 450 votes is too high for shorts. What do you think i should lower it to?
A lot of highly popular early shorts I looked at (Chaplin ones, etc.) often beat 300 votes, so I'd say 250-300 votes would be a good cutoff point to distinguish the 'hidden' gems from the popular early shorts that people don't seem to vote on.
I'd like to second Stever's recommendation for The House is Black
I compliment you on your dedication to these 'hidden gems' lists. They are well-organized and it seems you check every suggested title personally. Well done!
Thanks very much. I don't know how much others are interested in the lists but i really want to see a few.
You may want to provide a link to the Hidden Gems list at the top of this list, and vice-versa. Other great shorts:
The Pit, the Pendulum and Hope (1983)
Ferdinand the Bull (1938)
Sissy Boy Slap Party (1995)
Feed the Kitty (1952)
The Band Concert (1935)
Billy's Balloon (1998)
Genre (1996)
The Cathedral (2002)
Flowers and Trees (1932)
The Flat (1968)
Der Fuehrer's Face (1942)
Lily and Jim (1997)
Convict 13 (1920)
Cheers. That's a good idea.
I'd like to second Stever's recommendation of The House is Black (which has very few votes on imdb)
Here are my additions of outstanding short films, that aren't known by many.
The electric house (1922 / Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton / USA) - 153 votes
Une histoire d'eau "A Story of Water" (1959 / Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, France) - 81 votes
Konkurs “Audition“ (1963 / Milos Forman / Czechoslovakia) - 33 votes
Ich nicht (1969 / Jörg-Michael Baldenius, Wolfgang Petersen, Germany) - 7 votes
Tango (1981 / Zbigniew Rybczynski / Poland) - 124 votes
moznosti dialogu "Dimensions of dialogue" (1982 / Jan Svankmajer / Czechoslovakia) - 105 votes
Gagarin (1995 / Alexij Kharitidi / Russia) - 40 votes
Cousin (1998 / Adam Benjamin Elliot / Australia) - 46 votes
Brother (1999 / Adam Benjamin Elliot / Australia) - 63 votes
Nicht auf den Mund (1999 / Kathrin Feistl / Germany) - fewer than 5 votes
La petite vendeuse de soleil “The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun“ (1999 / Djibril Diop Mambety / Senegal) - 81 votes
The Heart of the world (2000 / Guy Maddin / Canada) - 245 votes
Soins et beaute (2001 / Alejandra Rojo / France) - fewer than 5 votes
Candidature (2001 / Emmanuel Bourdieu / France) - 15 votes
Dog (2001 / Andrea Arnold / UK) - 16 votes
Eat (2001 / Bill Plympton / USA) - 56 votes
Freunde “The Whiz Kids“ (2001 / Jan Krüger / Germany) - 24 votes
Tu vois (2001 / Francois Ruiz / France) - less than 5 votes
Maintenant (2002 / Inés Rabadán / Belgium) - less than 5 votes
Portret "Portrait" (2002 / Sergey Loznitsa / Russia) - less than 5 votes
This list may seem long, but I only included outstanding short films.
Cheers, that must have taken awhile. You can include anything that you enjoy.
Oh and i'll also second A Dog's Life and One Froggy Evening (Lukeprog)
Both of those have over 300 votes now, sorry.
Powers of Ten (1977)
Rough Sketch of a Proposed Film Dealing with the Powers of Ten and the Relative Size of Things in the Universe (1968)
Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969)
Hearts of Age (1934)
Lucifer Rising (1972)
Darkness/Light/Darkness (1989)
Human Remains (1998)
Dot and the Line (1965)
Dog Star Man (1962-64)
Canhead (1996)
Blood of the Beasts (1949)
Anemic Cinema (1926)
Crazy Ray (1925)
Entr'acte (1924)
There was a great short I can't remember the title of maybe one of you knows it? It was relatively recent, I would guess early 90s. It was about a guy who found mutilated fragments of an old silent film and puts them together in different orders to tell different stories. For some reason I think the name "Balthazar" was in the title. It's been bugging me for years.
Here:
Gack Gack (Encke, 2002)
Dansa Med Dvärgar (Gras, 2003)
Some more:
Tous les garçons s'appellent Patrick, by Jean-Luc Godard.
And by Méliès:
Un homme de têtes
Nouvelles luttes extravagantes
L'homme à la tête en caoutchouc
Barbe-bleue
Le locataire diabolique
BTW, thanks for keeping this great list up!
Regen (Joris Ivens, 1929)
Report (Bruce Conner, 1967)
Styx (Jan Krawitz, 1976, no imdb profile) information here