short films

Cinema's quick bites

Short films are movies significantly shorter than feature length—typically under 40 minutes, often much less.

The format suits film students, experimental work, and festival submissions where brevity is required or preferred.

Short films range from animated sketches to narrative dramas to documentaries: Her short film won at Sundance.

The singular short film or simply short refers to individual works.

Related

vignette · animation · stop motion · web series · experimental · thriller · anthology · sci-fi · arthouse cinema · horror · festival · interstitial · scenes · narrative · avant-garde cinema · music videos · credits · mystery

Categories
Opposites
duration/length

short filmsfeature films

Standard-length theatrical movies

features · epics · theatrical releases · director's cuts

production scale/ambition

short filmsblockbusters

Hugely successful entertainment products

studio films · tentpole movies

serialization/format

short filmstelevision series

Serialized broadcast entertainment program

long-running series · epics · trilogies · miniseries · film series

Family

short, film, shorts, shortly, shortcut, shortness, shortened, shortening, shortbread

Familiarity
Top 100,000
Profile
Known to kids · Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated G