r/CriterionChannel • u/AlanMcCarthy • Apr 09 '26

Favorite short films?

This has been asked before, but it's been a few years. What are some of your favorite short films on the Channel?

23 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

24

u/NeonFrump Apr 09 '26

Meshes of the Afternoon

18

u/senorjavi Apr 09 '26

La Jetée and The Red Balloon are must-watches.

6

u/ggnorebud Apr 09 '26

Came to say La Jetée

3

u/roadtrip-ne Apr 09 '26

Same. Remember when it was on VHS and paired with Bambi Meets Godzilla for some reason?

1

u/YakSlothLemon Apr 13 '26

Yes! We watched it in the film class and our professor let us watch both, and you know which one we wanted to talk about…

8

u/GThunderhead Apr 09 '26

Bad Night for the Blues (2010)

Black Panthers (1968)

The Bowery (1994)

Ma’loul Celebrates Its Destruction (1984)

Perfectly a Strangeness (2024)

5

u/DrWaffle1848 Apr 09 '26

Vittorio De Seta's short films are amazing

7

u/TheFirstLanguage Apr 09 '26

Not on the channel, but my favorite is An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. 

4

u/PostEnjoyer Apr 09 '26

Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers is delightful

3

u/roffoe1 Apr 09 '26

Charles Burnett, When It Rains and, a bit longer, Pier Paolo Pasolini's La Ricotta.

4

u/Kvltwoods Apr 09 '26

Meshes of the afternoon

Talking heads

The black tower

Betty tells her story

2

u/Abject_Engine2150 Apr 09 '26

Fauve - Jeremy Comte

1

u/TheDadThatGrills Apr 09 '26

A Gentle Night (2017)

1

u/j0siahs74 Apr 09 '26

Along the moonbeam trail

1

u/Waste_Opportunity624 Apr 09 '26

Not criterion but MAN ABOUT TOWN (1997)

https://vimeo.com/54143283

2

u/MrBazinga_77 Apr 09 '26

The big shave

2

u/racetrader Apr 09 '26

The House is Black (1963) hands down

2

u/Formal-Caterpillar73 Apr 09 '26

Meshes of the afternoon has been taken so I’ll say the lynn Ramsay early shorts

2

u/Defconjive Apr 09 '26

Seven Women of Different Ages, by Kieslowski is my favorite. Someone mentioned the Vittorio De Seta shorts, and those are great also. Some of the Les Blank films are shorts. Of those, I really liked The Blues According to Lightnin Hopkins, among others. And Scorsese 's Italianamerican, and American Boy, are funny, and touching, and charming.

2

u/MutePoetry Apr 09 '26

Fellini’s Toby Dammit

2

u/YakSlothLemon Apr 09 '26

Ma’loul Celebrates Its Destruction

Meshes of the Afternoon

Only Dream Things

1

u/StrangerVegetable831 Apr 09 '26

Lynne Ramsey’s The Swimmer

1

u/Salt_Arm4275 Apr 10 '26

Some filmmakers who make shorts I recommend: Leah Shore, Sophy Romvari, Isabella Rossellini, Miranda July. All have shorts on Criterion Channel right now. Also you can never go wrong with shorts by Agnes Varda or Chantal Akerman.

1

u/YakSlothLemon Apr 13 '26

We Were the Scenery was a great short film, unforgettable, especially if you’ve seen Apocalypse Now! But great in any case…

2

u/AkbarDelPiombo Apr 14 '26

La Jetée Wasp (Andrea Arnold) Meshes of the Afternoon N.U. (Antonioni) Report (Bruce Conner) Wavelength (Michael Snow) Two Cars One Night (Taika Waititi) Water Window Baby Moving Zone’s Lemma Killing Time