Catching Up on Internet Short Films

I used to see lots of them… on campus in college, at small local theaters and small film festivals, but I kind of fell out of the habit.  You’d think that with the ease  and availability of having them at my fingertips online these days, I would see more of them, but not so much. And that is totally on me, so I’m going to try to rectify that by watching a few every week or so when I have the time and focus… starting now.

Rise is David Karlak’s 2016 short about a genocide program by humans against intelligence robots after one kills a human in self-defense. It’s a heavily tapped concept, and although the visual are very nice, Rise brings nothing new or deep to the story.

Reset was created by Marcus Kryler and Fredrik Åkerström in 2013. There is some very powerful physical acting and imagery, and the mystery it presents is compelling. Ultimately though, the resolution feels muddled and mute.

The Nostalgist is a beautiful presented short by Giacomo Cimini. It explores augmented reality, dystopia and human/machine empathy in a compelling story of “father” and “son”. Everything that _Rise_ wasn’t, The Nostalgist is.

The Fisherman is _Alejandro Suarez Lozano_ short film that follows a day and a night of down-on-his-luck fisherman trying to turn his life around. Driven to unfamiliar waters he witnesses strange events and encounters a bizarre quarry.  I loved this one, sort of Old Man and The Sea meets the Aliens franchise.