Go Shorty

The short film, like the short story, is a peculiar art form and requires the ability to tell a fully formed story in a short space of time, complete with some snappy dialogue and all the nuances one would expect from a feature-length work. Some of the world's most revered filmmakers and actors still create shorts, in a way challenging themselves and sometimes their audiences, and many of them are featured at Flickerfest, like Wes Anderson and Hugo Weaving. Here are our top picks for the festival:

FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT AND PARTY

It's really the obvious choice. Head along to the Pavilion at 8.45pm this Friday for the festival highlight reel. That's right; the organisers have curated the best cuts from the festival to give you a taste of the huge line-up. That's four Academy Award-winning and -nominated films, including Today's The Day starring Danny DeVito, followed by a beach party, with includes food and organic drinks at the Flickerfest Bar. 

SHORT LAUGHS COMEDY

Just want a laugh? This afternoon session (4.30pm Saturday 11 Jan, and then again on Friday 17 Jan at 8.45pm) is for you, and will have you chuckling under your breath for days. Whether you prefer to watch Santa stranded, seniors exercising (30 Minutes By Day) or Hugo Weaving and David Wenham debating how exactly to create a low-budget film, it doesn't matter – it's all here.

WEIRD AND WACKY SHORTS

Flickerfest have actually managed to curate their strangest entries into a night of weirdo cinema on Saturday 16 Jan at 6.30pm. Films from as far off as Estonia, Sweden and Brazil, plus homegrown shorts like the absurd The Zoo, all share similarly off-kilter subject matter. It's subjects like triangles, teeth, pandas, dating and fish in styles as diverse as stop-motion, cartoon, mockumentary and live action.

CELEBRITY SHORTS

We all know half the reason we watch certain films is because of our favourite actors. The film can sound like trash, but we'll still go, because, for instance, a wild Ry Gos appears. Saturday 18 Jan at 8.45pm Celebrity Shorts plays into that reality, airing shorts starring the likes of Helena Bonham Carter and Jason Schwartzman. King Of The Teds starring the legendary Tom Jones seems like a winner, while Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola's Castello Cavalcanti will bring the quirk we all know and love.

BEST OF AUSTRALIAN

There are seven sessions showcasing the best our little island has to offer, every night from 11 to 16 Jan. The 8.45pm Saturday session includes shorts such as Scratch, featuring Claudia Karvan and The Sapphires' Miranda Tapsell. This is where you should go to check out the next big directors in Aussie short filmmaking. You'll be sure to find something to your taste with a huge array of genres on display and enough of our dark humour to appease any devoted Ausophile.