If you were going to give an award to the “Best Short Film Director”, what would be the criteria? I think the director would have to have made at least three shorts. Maybe over a five year period. If a director only has made two shorts, my sense is that they aren’t doing it for the love of the short, but more for their “career”. Three shows a commitment to the form. Making one great, or even two great short films does not detract from the strength of those shorts, but again it does not show the devotion to the form.
Now, as I believe that the dominance of the feature film form is on it’s last legs, and that ending it is TGHOTFOC, I think we will see even more great short directors in the years ahead. Presently though, I am a bit at a loss to nominate multiple directors who have made three or more excellent shorts. Nonetheless, that limitation does not reduce my enthusiasm for my nomination.
I had the good fortune of being asked to be a judge at TropFest NYC this year. It was an incredible program, and in the highlights of years passed, I was reminded of how great Nash Edgerton’s short work is (I also dig his feature The Square). Can you name a filmmaker who has made three shorts stronger than these:
LUCKY (Tropfest Finalist TSI “Umbrella”)
SPIDER was the short film that brought Nash to my attention. I have blogged about it before.
BEAR is Nash’s sequel to SPIDER and it’s pretty f’n awesome too (although having set a high bar with SPIDER, I confess I wanted things to go even further with BEAR). Unfortunately I can only find this teaser online to share with you, but trust me. He hits the trifecta with these. Maybe if Nash wants to win the HFF “Best Short Film Director” Award, he’ll have to put the full version online for you to decide…
Who would you nominate for “Best Short Film Director”? But remember, they must have done three excellent shorts.
PS. Nash’s partners at Blue Tongue deserve some extra kudos for their entire body of work (Kieran Darcy-Smith “Wish You Were Here”, David Michod “Animal Kingdom”, Spencer Susser “I Love Sarah Jane“). If the film business had any sense, they’d give these guys a heap of money to do whatever they wanted… #Just Saying
