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.
Short films under 20 minutes
879 short films under 20 minutes in the cafe, running 1 to 20 minutes. Many are thought-provoking or bittersweet. They span 39 languages. Each is a complete standalone short film, chosen by the cafe and played through its original video provider.
12 min · Malayalam · Animation
Follow a stream through the eyes of three curious children—a little adventure for anyone who remembers asking big questions about the world.
15 min · Malayalam · Comedy · Drama
A cat named Mottu tells his own story of companionship, heartbreak and finding himself. A gentle Malayalam film that MMC viewers watch all the way through.
8 min · English · Comedy
A Short of the Week selection: an irreverent alt-history of the lazy susan, the spinning table at Chinese restaurants, and the spectacularly lazy woman who invented it. Seven very funny minutes.
5 min · No dialogue · Animation · Romance
Spend four sweet minutes with “In a Heartbeat”, where a shy boy's runaway heart says exactly what he is too nervous to admit.
20 min · Telugu · Drama
Spardha means a fight within. This Telugu drama follows a would-be world kickboxing champion whose biggest opponent is himself. Nineteen minutes, with English subtitles and festival recognition its makers list.
10 min · Malayalam · Drama
A child, a cat and a fish share a small story about hope and survival. Nine and a half Malayalam minutes with a 5.5% like rate on YouTube.
4 min · English · Comedy · Thriller
Alex Brooks's four-minute comedy-thriller: two criminals discover they've picked the same hiding place.
8 min · English · Horror · Thriller
Dylan Clark's eight-minute horror: a young woman giving a presentation on a religious painting starts to doubt what she can see in it.
20 min · Malayalam · Drama
A Malayalam family drama about a woman's life hemmed in by domestic expectations, which has sparked a lot of discussion among its viewers. Twenty minutes, with a 5.1% like rate on YouTube.
4 min · English · Science fiction · Thriller
A four-minute English sci-fi thriller in which an office worker's daily routine slowly becomes something unsettling.
4 min · Malayalam · Animation
Studio Eeksaurus's four-minute sequel to Kandittund!: storyteller P.N.K. Panicker's animated self explains how Arana, the red-tailed skink, got its tail. Sound design by Resul Pookutty.
13 min · Tamil · Drama · Romance
A phone call reaches across an old relationship and a difficult lockdown. Try this short reunion with Karthik and Jessie for a conversation about longing, boundaries and finding the will to continue.
6 min · English · Comedy
Tom Noakes's AACTA-nominated single-take Australian short: why is a metalhead singing Old MacDonald by a rural highway? Five minutes that flip every first impression.
20 min · English · Science fiction · Thriller
A selfish executive is trapped in a restroom time loop and has to face other versions of himself to get out. Twenty minutes of clever, funny sci-fi.
15 min · English · Comedy
A big Italian-American family keeps Sunday pasta night alive after their parents' passing, until Don announces he's gone vegan. Fourteen loud, loving, very funny minutes.
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.
12 min · Malayalam · Animation · Fantasy
Studio Eeksaurus's Malayalam animation: storyteller P.N.K. Panicker shares the uncanny spirits and tall tales of his neighbourhood. Twelve playful, eerie minutes.
6 min · No dialogue · Animation · Fantasy · Drama
A wordless animation: a strange creature races against time to finish the most important thing it will ever make. Six minutes that linger long after.
12 min · Malayalam · Drama
Pooja's online persona raises questions about identity and loneliness. A twelve-minute Malayalam drama for the social-media age.
12 min · Tamil · Drama · Fantasy
A Tamil fantasy-drama about an aspiring filmmaker whose imagination starts writing itself into the story he's trying to make. Eleven playful, layered minutes.
14 min · Malayalam · Thriller
A theft in the dark leads into an encounter whose other side stays unseen. A thirteen-minute Malayalam thriller.
9 min · Malayalam · Romance · Comedy
Try “KSEB Pranayam” when you’re in the mood for a short comedy.
12 min · Malayalam · Romance · Comedy
An eleven-minute Malayalam rom-com that drops a police officer into an unexpected love story.
12 min · Hindi · Drama
Sheeba Chadda and Shantanu Maheshwari in Ajay Shivan's Hindi drama: Ved has his birthday all planned, until his mother's surprise reminds him whose special day it really is.
6 min · English · Animation
Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter's Oscar-nominated stop-motion, adapted from Ron Koertge's poem: a son remembers his father through the art of packing a suitcase. Five perfect minutes.
16 min · English · Science fiction · Thriller · Action · Fantasy
A rescue mission crosses into the spirit world. Try Kodama for an action-fantasy short about a samurai SWAT officer fighting to bring his father home.
18 min · Malayalam · Romance · Comedy
A hospital drip and a chance meeting set off an unlikely romance in this eighteen-minute Malayalam rom-com.
20 min · Malayalam · Drama
Vivek Joseph Varughese's Malayalam drama about a housewife who is loved but not respected, and the day she claims for herself. Billed as award-winning by its makers, with English subtitles; MMC viewers have watched it to the end.
2 min · No dialogue · Drama
A wordless, under-two-minute short made, as its maker puts it, for those still awake at 2 a.m. Pour a late cup and settle in.
17 min · Tamil · Drama · Romance
An Idly Upma original shot, edited and directed by Sujith S: a simple, gentle Tamil tale from the lockdown months.
20 min · Malayalam · Fantasy · Drama
A young man escapes his routine and stumbles into a mystical village that changes how he sees life. A nineteen-minute Malayalam fantasy with a 3.5% like rate on YouTube.
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.
11 min · Malayalam · Romance · Comedy
A Malayalam rom-com in which a marriage visit turns into romantic misunderstandings and comic complications. Ten and a half 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 · Malayalam · Thriller
Budget Lab's Malayalam crime thriller: an ordinary incident pulls its characters into a widening mystery. Seventeen dark minutes that only 12,000 YouTube viewers have found so far.
12 min · Tamil · Romance · Drama
An introvert's carefully closed-off world is upended when an outgoing woman pulls him out of his shell. Settle in to see whether he makes sense of love or bends who he is.
8 min · Tamil · Romance · Drama
Spend a little time with the love story in “Kooravarthaigal”.
20 min · Tamil · Romance · Drama
School memories and an affection never spoken come back in this nostalgic Tamil romance. Twenty minutes.
Related guides
Short films under 10 minutes · Short films under 5 minutes · All guides