'The Landing' is a Phenomenal Short-film of Poise and Substance

Damn. Right on the heels of last week's stellar sci-fi short Anomaly comes another equally captivating short film of mesmerizing tone and visual grace.

Modern-Day. A man argues frantically with a 911 dispatcher as he marches into a barren field, touting a shovel in hand. August 6th, 1960. A young boy named Edward plays a game of army-men versus aliens on his front porch before witnessing an frightening omen of cosmic significance.

"The program you are about to hear is largely fiction; Science-fiction. We make no guarantee however how long it will remain fiction."

These two seemingly-disparate stories dove-tailed into The Landing; A beautiful 20-minute short film about the love between a father and his son, innocence lost, and how the sins of the past come to bear on our future. The film's already racked up five nominations and eleven wins from festivals across the world, even eliciting talks of a Oscar nomination for best short film. And it's not hard to see why. Take some time out of your day to check this one out; It's undoubtedly something special.

Luminaris By Juan Pablo Zaramella

Luminaris is a stop motion short created by Juan Pablo Zaramella, employing live action stop motion techniques that really reminded me of the works of Jan Svankmajer. The plot revolves around a man working at a dull light making assembly line, and his plot to gain freedom. Considering that live action stop motion is somewhat of a dormant medium, it was really cool to hear that Luminaris managed to win an audience award at the Annecy animated film festival and awards show in 2011. As an additional showcase of Zaramella's stop motion talents, check out his popcorn themed short, 'Hotcorn' after the break!

DreamGiver By Tyler Carter

This beautiful blend of 2D and 3D animation was directed by Tyler Carter and created by a team of students at the Brigham Young University Center For Animation. The short gives a really cool take on how dreams are formed, or 'delivered' by a Sandman of sorts. The dream takes a turn for the worst when one of the sleeping kids knocks one of the Dreamgivers 'dream eggs' onto a mythological tale about Chantico, the Aztec goddess of fire and volcanoes who takes the shape of a serpent. Its a beautiful blend of animation techniques, with a wonderful cinematic score to boot. Check out the making of the short after the break!