Short, Sweet.

Hey, tonight is opening night of the RI International Film Festival, and the line-up of short films looks really good. There’s something cool about short films, probably because every second counts in a movie that lasts around ten minutes. It’s get-in, get-out filmmaking. Not everyone can pull it off, but when shorts are done well, there’s nothing more impressive — notice how excited an audience gets when a movie successfully sweeps them up and satisfies in a handful of minutes. (Case in point: Last year’s totally fascinating Next Floor by Denis Villeneuve had the room buzzing for the rest of the night.)

We’re lucky in Rhode Island because the RIIFF is a qualifying festival for the short films category at the Academy Awards, which means this is where the best short-filmmakers in the world submit their stuff.

You can see a line-up of tonight’s movies, and check out some stills and trailers, here.