13 min · English · Drama · Romance
What do you hold on to when everything is changing? Try this for a teenager's search for meaning at the end of high school.
English drama short films
109 English drama short films in the cafe, running 3 to 34 minutes. Many are thought-provoking or bittersweet. Each is a complete standalone short film, chosen by the cafe and played through its original video provider.
13 min · English · Comedy · Drama · Horror · Fantasy
For Owen, resisting a compulsion feels as if the world could end. This dark comedy takes that fear literally, mixing an everyday struggle with wildly escalating stakes.
11 min · English · Drama
Pull up a chair for “No More Wings”, a warm, bittersweet two-hander in which childhood friends Isaac and Jude catch up over fried chicken as their lives drift in different directions.
16 min · English · Science fiction · Thriller · Drama
An English sci-fi thriller: two estranged brothers caught in a repeating chain of events try to stop a tragedy. Fifteen tense, emotional minutes.
19 min · English · Drama
One night, a teenager with nowhere to sleep and a deafblind man waiting for his bus find their way to each other. Settle in for a warm, quietly moving drama about empathy.
17 min · English · Drama · Science fiction
During a lethal epidemic, a quarantined father faces an impossible choice when his daughter falls ill. A sixteen-minute English sci-fi drama that lands close to home.
7 min · English · Drama
Liam has six weeks to live and has told no one. Settle in for a quietly affecting British drama about keeping up appearances while time runs out.
13 min · English · Drama
Sit with “Presentation”, a perceptive, empathetic teen drama about Holly, who has to stand up in front of her class while self-doubt and anxiety close in around her.
13 min · English · Horror · Drama
A family dinner becomes impossible to separate from grief. Choose The Dinner After for a horror short where the feelings Angela tries to escape will not stay outside the room.
6 min · English · Thriller · Drama
A game of chess between two strangers opens old wounds and becomes a struggle for power. A six-minute English thriller.
13 min · English · Romance · Drama
Arthur is sure that love at first sight is real the moment he meets Ruth. Settle in with John Hurt and Phyllida Law for a tender British romance about love that refuses to run out of time.
14 min · English · Romance · Drama
A journey to recreate an old photograph becomes a chance to begin something new. Try Reappear for an English-language romantic short connecting a father's memory with a son's next chapter.
14 min · English · Drama · Thriller
An ordinary school day becomes a child's fight for safety. Watch for a restrained, emotionally difficult perspective on the people at the centre of gun violence.
7 min · English · Science fiction · Drama
A grieving mother brings home a synthetic child to fill the silence, unaware of the robot's hidden purpose. A seven-minute English sci-fi drama.
11 min · English · Romance · Drama
Two people nobody would have paired find themselves drawn together. Eleven minutes of sincere, small-scale romance.
21 min · English · Drama
Six-year-old Libby has lived in silence until a caring social worker opens up a way to communicate. Turn on the captions and settle in with this moving British drama about a deaf child being understood.
16 min · English · Comedy · Drama
An eight-year-old's crush on his teacher leads to a challenge with surprisingly serious stakes. A sixteen-minute Irish comedy-drama.
15 min · English · Drama · Thriller · Comedy
A parlour game becomes a test of belonging. Watch this dark comedy-mystery for sharp class satire and a family whose polished manners hide something troubling.
22 min · English · Drama
A quiet helpline shift turns into a conversation that reaches deep into two lonely lives. Settle in for a tender, unhurried story about grief, kindness and the power of simply listening.
12 min · English · Comedy · Drama
A resourceful car-park attendant spots a chance to help friends in financial trouble. Twelve warm minutes of everyday ingenuity.
14 min · English · Comedy · Drama
Groceries become a reason to reach across the distance of lockdown. A pick for a small story about neighbours and practical kindness.
6 min · English · Comedy · Drama
A five-minute English comedy that turns an introvert's trip to the barbershop into an odyssey of social anxiety. Painfully relatable.
20 min · English · Drama
Spend an unhurried evening with “Stealing Silver”, in which Maisie Williams’s guarded Leonie, asked to watch over her forgetful elderly neighbour Udo, slowly lets her own buried grief surface.
15 min · English · Science fiction · Romance · Drama
Space becomes the setting for a search for connection after loss. Try this if you like science fiction that makes room for memory and love.
14 min · English · Drama
What would an artist risk to be noticed? Try this British short for a painter whose plan for recognition goes dangerously beyond the canvas.
5 min · English · Animation · Drama
A tiny story with a generous heart. Stay for the moment when its perspective opens up.
23 min · English · Drama · Thriller
A college student who feels threatened seeks shooting lessons and a sense of control from a survivalist. A twenty-two-minute English drama about fear and power.
13 min · English · Drama
Teacher Robert Brammel and his student Jin form an unusual bond shadowed by guilt and loss. A twelve-minute English drama.
12 min · English · Drama · Comedy
An Irish short about a boy from Africa on his first day at a new school, with memories of home shaping everything he sees. Funny, moving and twelve minutes long.
32 min · English · Science fiction · Drama
A thirty-one-minute English sci-fi drama: an interplanetary hauler trying to provide for his daughter is forced to face his past and some hard choices.
11 min · English · Romance · Drama
Two strangers, one chance meeting in a London cafe: settle in for a tender romance that weighs what it costs to let someone in.
27 min · English · Comedy · Drama · Thriller
A grieving man's train journey is hijacked by a volatile, unpredictable young stranger. Twenty-six minutes of very dark comedy that turns unexpectedly tender.
16 min · English · Drama
A young girl makes her home on a beach, and a chance connection begins to change what that life looks like. Choose Jada for a tender, quietly moving drama about resilience and being seen.
12 min · English · Drama
Matthew Saville's New Zealand drama follows a teenager hitchhiking in search of his birth mother. An intimidating stranger with a tattooed face changes what family means to him.
12 min · English · Animation · Drama
“STILL” is a quiet, music-led AI short about memory and grief, and about the people we keep trying for even when we can't fix what's broken.
25 min · English · Science fiction · Fantasy · Drama
An English sci-fi fantasy: a teenager believes a mysterious plant can save his dying brother, while a government agency wants it destroyed. Twenty-five adventurous minutes.
10 min · English · Drama
Hop in for “Jalebi!”, a warm Indian-Australian short where one car ride is enough to shift how someone sees the road ahead.
8 min · English · Drama
A Short of the Week selection by Julian Doan: as a father dies at home, his youngest son sits by the doorway, unable to say goodbye. Seven raw minutes.
14 min · English · Animation · Drama
Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby's Oscar-nominated NFB animation: in 1909 a dapper Englishman tries ranching in Alberta, armed with badminton, birdwatching and liquor. Painterly, funny and sad.
7 min · English · Comedy · Drama · Thriller
Two brothers' robbery is interrupted by an unexpected visitor. A six-minute English comedy-thriller.
Related guides
English comedy short films · English sci-fi short films · English animated short films · English thriller short films · English documentary short films · English romantic short films · All guides