Video: Shorts Program 1 | 2018 Sundance Film Festival

Sundance’s Shorts Program 1 is often one of the festival’s very first screenings each year. In some ways, these short filmmakers get a chance to set the tone for the rest of the week. Sundance ’18’s selection didn’t disappoint. This year’s program included Jordan Firstman and Charles Rogers’ Men Don’t Whisper, an uproarious satire of toxic masculinity. In it, a gay couple tries to have sex with women to prove their manliness. Myrsini Aristiduou’s Aria, a beautifully naturalistic, claustrophobically shot meditation on life in present-day Athens. The intimate morning-after story of Garfield by Georgi Banks-Davies; Mandeep Dhillon and Matthew Trevannion’s funny, believable performances should land them more work. Also Floyd Russ’s Zion, The touching story of Zion Clark: a young wrestler who was born without legs and grew up in foster care. Don Hertzfeldt’s gonzo acid-trip animation World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts—a film that transforms his five-year-old niece’s prepubescent blabber into an insightful, existential journey. And lastly, Pete Lee’s Don’t be a Hero, a sleek neo-western starring the amazing Missi Pyle as a lonely, middle-aged woman who robs banks. Check out the Q and A with short filmmakers below.