BEST AMERICAN SHORT FILMS 5
Sintel by Colin Levy (2010) (USA/Holland) (15m)
Sintel is a fantasy animation film by American visual effects artist Colin Levy, created on the open source 3D animation software, Blender. It closely resembles a well-liked style of Japanese (Anime) computer animation. It is the story of a young girl on an all-consuming quest to save the pet dragon stolen from her - and exact her revenge. What Sintel lacks in subtlety is made up for by its beauty, ambition and cool ending. Levy is an artist who understands film language.
Jet by Jordan Chesney (2012) (USA) (8m) *
Joint winner of the 5th FILMSshort competition, Jet takes its place amongst the very best short films ever made! This dialogue-free film is a gripping thriller in which a man who plans to use a handgun on himself sees a girl being snatched from the curbside and decides he must take action. Jet was a remake of a film Jordan made less than a year before but on a lower budget and tighter shoot. A kind of dress rehearsal for this more polished version.
Rejected by Don Hertzfeldt (2000) (US) (9m) 
It's hard to know what to believe when one first watches Don Hertzfeldt's magnificent and unsettling hand-drawn animation, Rejected. But give it a chance and you will be richly rewarded. It was nominated for the Best Short Animation Oscar in 2001, losing out to Father & Daughter. If you only watch one animation on this site, make it this one... the infuriatingly precocious Hertzfeldt has created several successful animations and serves his country well.
Validation by Kurt Kuenne (2007) (USA) (16m)
Validation is a fabulous romantic comedy that could rightly be placed in the romance or comedy sections. Written and directed by Kurt Kuenne, it is a modern-day fable about a guy who is validating parking tickets but also validating the customers by giving them compliments. He likes to see people smile but the one girl he wants to make smile more than anything appears to be a lost cause. A slightly mawkish ending is outweighed by its general awesomeness.
