10 Animated Short Films to Watch Tonight

Animation can do in five minutes what live action needs an hour for. A whole world, a friendship, a chase across a strange planet, all drawn, modelled or built frame by frame by people who love the craft. Here are ten animated short films from the independent filmmakers on The Short Film Show, from the United States to Peru, Poland and Japan. Every one is under eleven minutes, and eight of the ten have no dialogue at all, so they travel anywhere.

Under six minutes

Like and Follow

Canada, Germany and Japan, 2 minutes. Directed by Forrest Schlage.

A kid starts spending time in the real world, so his smartphone sets out to win his attention back. A sharp, funny two minutes that anyone with a phone will recognise.

Memories of the Future

United Kingdom, 3 minutes. Directed by Irina Petrova Adamatzky.

A child from the future looks back at the junk we left circling the Earth, with wonder and with worry. Drawn like a child's picture and rendered like a dream.

Look

Lithuania, 3 minutes. Directed by Meinardas Valkevičius, from MeinArt Animation Studio.

A short, striking film about what passes between people and animals, and what we take from the planet. Its title is the whole message: dare to look.

Bloom

Japan, 4 minutes. Directed by Conan Gionovan.

A small story of resilience and hope that you can read many ways: finding where you belong, waiting for someone you love, or simply refusing to give up.

Harvest

Ireland, 5 minutes. Directed by Simon Riley.

On an unknown planet, a lone worker drone comes under attack. Five tense minutes of sci-fi without a word spoken.

RESTORATION

Peru, 5 minutes, in Spanish. Directed by Jorge Luis Jara Solorzano.

A stop-motion journey: Max goes looking for his father in a distant town full of mysteries, with his friend P-robot by his side.

Settle in (six to ten minutes)

Space cat hob

France, 6 minutes. Directed by Geoffrey Lerus.

A tiny, mysterious cat-like creature wakes in the smoking wreck of his spaceship and sets off through a beautiful and dangerous world, looking for answers.

Soar

United States, 6 minutes. From Alyce Tzue.

A young girl makes a new friend when a tiny boy pilot falls out of the sky on a broken flying machine. Now she has to get him home before he's stranded on Earth for good.

The Gift that stayed

Poland, 6 minutes. Directed by Hanna Bezler.

A lonely grandmother living among city skyscrapers is sent a little robot she wants nothing to do with, until it finds her lost glasses. A warm, gentle film about letting someone in.

The Sandman

France and the United States, 10 minutes. Directed by Natalia Hermida.

The Sandman, the fairy of dreams, accidentally sends a railway signal operator to sleep just as two trains race towards each other. Now he has to wake him up before it's too late.

Watch them all

Every film above is on The Short Film Show, on the web and in our iOS and Android apps. Browse more in Animation and Stop Motion, or find your next favourite on our 24/7 channel.