I thought I’d start off this year with a few short films — and since we’re doing women and non-binary people in genre, how about some short films directed by women? Well, my friends, easier said than done. It probably shouldn’t be a surprise (consider for example that only 6% of top Hollywood features were directed by women in 2013, and films with female directors are often chronically underfunded) that it’s already slightly more challenging to find films directed by women, let alone trans-women or non-binary people. But most of those short films tend to be documentary (women filmmakers often gravitate toward documentary, actually), drama, or romance. Looking specifically for sci-fi and fantasy short film — already only a small percentage of all short films made — directed by women is even more challenging. I actually had a much easier time finding genre short film done by African directors.
After a mighty amount of googling, I’ve found a couple of excellent full short films for you, and two trailers that I wish I had the full films for!
Plastic by Sandy Widyanta
A woman discovers she can reshape her appearance like plastic–definite commentary on body image. The visual effects are excellent!
Wakening by Danis Goulet
In a world ruined by an environmental apocalypse, a young Cree woman ventures into the urban ruins to search for the Weetigo spirit, hoping that it will help her.
Hide and Seek by Kayoko Asakura (trailer only)
A girl taking koto lessons discovers her teacher isn’t what she appears to be. This has a special place in my heart because I actually can play the koto, and I also learned the Ikuta style, like the girl in the film. But my teacher wasn’t something terrifying in disguise!
You, Me & Her by Sarah Doyle (trailer only)
A woman discovers that she is the most boring of all her possible selves. I love this kind of parallel universe humor.
Also, I’m going to take this moment to sneak in a tiny little teaser for a short film project I wrote, which is directed by a brilliant woman named Seraphina Gonzalez.
Here’s hoping in the future we will see more short film and feature length film in genre directed by women.
