BEST UK SHORT FILMS 4
North Atlantic by Bernardo Nascimento (2010) (UK) (15m)
North Atlantic by Bernardo Nascimento is based on a true story. It is paced a little like a feature film, but give it time. North Atlantic tells the story of an isolated air traffic controller who receives a mayday call one night. A lone pilot is lost over the Atlantic with no chance or reaching land and no chance of rescue. This will be his last conversation. It's reminiscent of the opening of the brilliant feature film A Matter Of Life And Death.
Two & Two by Babak Anvari (2011) (UK) (8m) 
Made in England but set in an Iranian school, Two & Two is an allegorical tale about a teacher telling his class of young boys that what they thought was the sum of 2 + 2 is wrong. With a writing credit for Gavin Cullen and its director, there are obvious similarities to George Orwell's famous book, 1984, where the populace are forever being told that they have in fact been fighting a different enemy to the one they thought. Two & Two was nominated for a BAFTA in 2012 and was Anvari's fourth shot film.
Soft by Simon Ellis (2007) (UK) (14m)
Simon Ellis won the International Short Filmmaking Award at Sundance and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2008 with his great short film, Soft. It is the gritty story of a son and father tormented by a gang of 'happy-slapping' youths, but with neither apparently being brave enough to fight back. Simon Ellis went on to make the feature film, Dogging: A Love Story, in 2009 but scored less success with this film.
Creature Comforts by Nick Park (1989) (UK) (5m)
Those old enough will remember that Nick Park, the man who brought us Wallace & Gromit, first brought us his stop-motion clay animations in the form of Creature Comforts, which won the Best Short Animation Oscar in 1991 (it seems it took the Academy a year or two watch it). Creature Comforts is an often very amusing and thought-provoking take on zoos and what animals might say if they could talk and were given the opportunity to comment.
