A young boy named Shah (Bryce Thompson) is convinced that the Devil lives in a hole in his backyard. I mean, I’ve been there, trust me.

Directed by Noah Glenn, who co-wrote the short with Imakemadbeats, this is a film about the power of a seven-year-old child’s imagination. It’s pretty wonderful and imaginative even with its short runtime.

Directed and written by Spencer Zimmerman, this film is about astronaut Sam Bowman (Blakely David) who accepts an interstellar mission to save the lives of a missing crew on a deep space voyage. After abandoning his life on Earth and his wife Sara (Siobhan Connors), a critical failure leaves him without a crew, without hope and plenty of guilt.

The question is, “Who saves you when you can’t save the people you were supposed to be saving?”

Created as part of the Motion Picture Arts Program at Capilano University, Darkside uses practical effects, physical sets and remote locations to achieve its unique look. Production of the film took over 720 days to complete — 16 shooting days over two years and 9 months of post.

You can learn more at the official site.

An excerpt from Dr. Malcom J. Backer’s Hyperexpiology Companion [revision 2b]: “…the destructive system is self-replicating and self-propelling. Functioning like a clock. Systematically. Efficiently. Relentlessly. A mindless machine. It will never be enough. The clockmaker eventually loses control. We are dreaming of a new day when a new day isn’t coming.”

This film by Matt Eslinger is a stop-motion animated film of, well, shapes moving in and out of one another. It’s intriguing, but I have no idea what the story is, if there is one or what I am supposed to get out of this than beauty.

Austin Quarles and Ryan Gentle are filmmakers out of Chattanooga, TN that “met as random roommates in college and hated each other so much that they decided to open up a film company together. They’ve been arguing about it ever since.”

Their film — co-written with Chris Holmes — In the Balance is about how Dr. Marie Mitchell and his assistant Jonathan Meyers face a moral dilemma after achieving a medical breakthrough. It feels like the start of something bigger and I hope at some point they expand it to become a full feature.

When Indigo (Maye Harris), a sheltered teenager with congenital heart disease, meets and befriends Sarah (Ellie Adrean), a more rebellious teen about getting a heart transplant, she decides to break free of her New Age parents’ strict worry and start living as an actual teenager.

Director and co-writer (with Max Kaplow) Alessandra Lichtenfeld has put together a cute glimpse into teenage life while being smart enough to reference The Parent Trap. There’s plenty of emotion in the short run time of this film.

In the year 2038, a rise in authoritarianism — look, let’s just admit this is our future and move on. Isaac (Nathan Whitfield) is trying to keep his sister Taylor (Kenny Cumino) safe — they live on the outskirts of society — which means keeping her old handheld game sticked with batteries to keep her from going through a painful and loud panic attack.

Director and writer John Christian Otteson has created a tense short that’s about family in the face of a rough world, while also having a Game Boy Color that has held up way better than mine.

Directed and written by Allison Shrum, this film finds Beverly (Lindsey Akers) and Suzette (Sara De La Haya) deciding that because Roger (Taylor Novak) is the worst husband of all time, he has to go. And if that death happens to be in the middle of a decent meal, well, then so be it.

Shrum has a lot of credits in front of the camera and a few behind it in production, makeup and directing. Being this assured so soon in her career points to amazing things.

You can learn more at her official website.

The first short directed and written by Ashley Hammelman, who has worked in the makeup departments of films like Death Ranch, Better Safe Than Sorry, Veronica Skeletons in The Closet and the upcoming The Visitor, this film has some wild visuals and frightening moments to tell the story of a woman struggling with depression and fighting her own inner demon.

Hammelman has an interesting story. She grew up making stop motion films and working in a movie theater before going to college, working on reality shows and getting another degree in makeup arts. She’s currently working to earn her Masters in Marriage in Family Therapy and hopes to spread awareness about mental health and create an open dialogue for people who are having issues related to it. She now uses her passion for telling stories — and the inner battles of mental trauma — to make films just like this one.

When a successful wedding planner goes missing, the last site on his browser history: says Floaters Dot Com, words which people have been hearing whispered behind their ears, a website of extraordinary magnitude that destroys nearly everyone that visits.

Directed by Steve Girard, who co-wrote the script with Andrew Raab and John Albano, and featuring SNL star Bowen Yang, this movie brought me back to when everything had a free disk in it. If you get promised a trip somewhere, don’t take it. I’ve learned that much in my life, having survived the years of dial-up and floppies. Oh yeah — and Geocities sites, which this movie seems to really love.

You can learn more on the official site.

A woman (Laura Dromerick, Camp Blood 8: Revelations, The Haunting of La Llorona) goes through the moments of her bad day, which somehow involves wearing period blood like face paint, but you know, whatever it takes to get you through, especially the way this country is heading for anyone that isn’t a rich white religious male.

Director Megan Duffy — she was the mom in Meat Friend! — has been all over the place in her career, acting in movies like the remake of Maniac and Holidays, as well as directing, producing, casting, editing and cinematography. You can learn more about her on her official site.