Sweet and succinct, shorts are the little films that could. Here are the films that play before some of our features. In addition, T/F 2013 features three shorts compilations listed  on the Films page:  The Ascent of Man, Boys & Their Toys, and Lost & Found.

  
Bradley Manning Had Secrets

Internet chat transcripts paint a complicated portrait of Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning. (Plays with Captain and his Pirate)

Catnip: Egress to Oblivion?

Long seen as an innocuous substance, this psychedelic scourge afflicts the worldwide feline population. (Plays with Gimme Truth!)

Dear Valued Guests

Columbia’s world-famous Regency Hotel is set to be demolished, but before the wrecking ball arrives, a ragtag group of artists takes over the top floor. (Plays with The Village at the End of the World)

Declaration of War

A haunting compilation of C-SPAN footage taken from the day George Bush announced “Operation Enduring Freedom” in Afghanistan.  This mesmerizing short opens a new window into how government officials embraced the war. (Plays on The Great Wall)

Donkey

Using beautiful cinematography, Redmon and Sabin transform these dirty, creatures of work into majestic, gorgeous animals. (Plays on The Great Wall)

Drive Thru

The exotic phenomenon known as the American Beer Drive Thru becomes an immersive experience in this three-camera split screen short. Shot entirely in Dayton, Ohio, which appears to have a higher beer drive thru per capita ratio than most cities. (Plays on The Great Wall)

Dusty Night

Afghanistan as seen through the eyes of Kabul’s street sweepers, who spend their nights shifting a never-ending supply of heavy dust. (Plays with Garden of Eden)

Magnetic Reconnection

This is an experience that is most fitting at night, outdoors and on a giant wall.  Armstrong directs narrator Will Oldham to dissect light and time against decaying man-made structures of the 20th century creating a luminescent piece which juxtaposes these rusted, ugly industrial structures against the beautiful and forever-present Northern Lights. (Plays on The Great Wall)

Marcel, King of Tervuren

Marcel, a Belgian rooster, won’t die in this mesmerizing animated short, which unfolds like a Greek tragedy. (Plays with These Birds Walk)

Mémoire Impossible/Impossible Memory

Alterman creates an homage to the legendary director Chris Marker by combining his La Jetée and Sans Soleil with Marker's favorite film
Vertigo into a science fiction adventure. Marker, who passed away July 29, would have undoubtedly  loved to have time-traveled through these newly uncovered portals. "People say only time can heal a wound, but I think it’s the other way around- time heals everything but the wound." – Chris Marker (Plays on The Great Wall)

My Favorite Picture of You

In this tender, heartbreaking short from the directors of Undefeated (T/F 2012) an elderly couple endeavors to remember their love. (Plays with Stories We Tell)

The Other Day

On the day Leningrad turned into Saint Petersburg, 2012 True Vision honoree Victor Kossakovsky found a dead body on the street. (Plays with Winter Go Away!)

Slomo

Streetside philosopher Slomo may be considered crazy – he rollerblades in super slow-motion, often with one leg pointed heaven-ward –  but he’s “not an asshole.” (Plays with I Am Breathing)

Tina Delivers a Goat

Which shows the well-intentioned paving stones which comprise the road to hell. (Plays with Secret Screening Green)

Vladimir Putin in Deep Concentration

From the man who brought you 2012’s “Aaron Burr, Pt. II,” this is a movie about an implacably blank face.  And a very distinctive walk. It's terrifying. (Plays with Secret Screening Red)

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Recently declassified White House tapes show President Johnson struggling with daily issues in the Oval Office, including troublesome telephone operators and limited dessert options. (Plays on The Great Wall)