When all the buzz starts coming out of Sundance, we probably won't be hearing much about the shorts. The tiniest of the indies showing there, they tend to get overshadowed by the more star-heavy vehicles, even though the shorts can be the breeding ground for some of the best talent to come out of the festival.
Now you can make your own decision about the best shorts of the festival, no matter how far away you are from Park City. The Sundance Institute is making 10 of the festival's shorts available for free on iTunes, starting today and running through the end of the festival on January 25. You can find them on Sundance's special page at the iTunes store, or you know, just search "Sundance" in your regular iTunes window. As I write this on Thursday afternoon the shorts don't appear to be online yet, but I'm sure they'll be active within a few hours.
Below is a list of all the films available for your enjoyment. It's free, it's convenient, it's short! Lots of things the actual Sundance Film Festival can't claim to be.
Acting for the Camera (Director: Justin Nowell; Screenwriter: Thomas Nowell)—An acting class. Today's scene: the orgasm from 'When Harry Met Sally.'
Countertransference (Director: Madeleine Olnek;Screenwriters: Madeleine Olnek and Cast)—A comedy about an awkward woman with assertiveness problems who seeks the questionable help of a therapist.
HUG (Director: Khary Jones)—Drew is a musician with a contract ready to sign. When Asa, his friend and manager, realizes Drew is off his meds the across-town drive to sign the contract becomes significantly more complicated.
Field Notes From Dimension X: Oasis (Director: Carson Mell)—Captain Fred T. Rogard muses in isolation on planet Oasis.
From Burger It Came (Director: Dominic Bisignano)—An animated film that recounts early 1980s-era Cold War fears of a young boy in middle America. Using a variety of techniques, the visual narrative is colorfully assembled over semi-documentary audio conversations between a grown adult recounting his fears and his mother's memory of the time and her own concerns.
I Live In The Woods (Director: Max Winston)—A Woodsman's fast-paced journey, fueled by happiness, slaughter, and a confrontation with America's God.
Instead of Abracadabra Sweden (Director and Screenwriter: Patrik Eklund)—Tomas is a little bit too old to still be living with his parents, but his dream of becoming a magician leaves him with no other option.
James Northern Ireland (Director: Connor Clements)—A young man grapples with the impulses and thoughts about being gay.
Magnetic Movie UK (Directors: Semiconductor: Ruth Jarman + Joe Gerhardt)—Natural magnetic fields are revealed as chaotic ever-changing geometries, as scientists from NASA's space sciences laboratory excitedly describe their discoveries.
This Way Up/UK (Directors: Adam Foulkes, Alan Smith; Screenwriters: Adam Foulkes, Alan Smith, Christopher O'Reilly)—Laying the dead to rest has never been so much trouble.
