Dispatches from Short Cinema
Festival coverage, filmmaker interviews, industry news, and critical writing on the short form. More pieces added regularly.
Cinematic legend Ridley Scott is back with his 30th feature-length outing, the Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin and Margaret Qualley-starring, The Dog Stars. But like much of his other recent output, the final product is a disappointing drop-off from what we know he's capable of.
Read piece →Jane Schoenbrun's third feature outing, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, is sensitive and funny and beautiful and everything movies can and should be. It's an elevation for Schoenbrun as a filmmaker and is one of the year's finest.
Read piece →The seemingly now annual Jason Statham-starring action flick has landed for 2026 in the form of Mutiny, a one-man cargo ship revenge crusade.
Read piece →Coyote vs. Acme has faced a long and perilous journey over the past couple of years, but finally the slapstick courtroom drama has found its way to theatres.
Read piece →The Insidious franchise, believe it or not, is still going. 16 years on from the James Wan-directed inaugural instalment comes the sixth in this horror franchise, Insidious: Out of the Further; a Jacob Chase movie that breathes new life into this withering world.
Read piece →"The Last of Us" star Bella Ramsey leads the George Jaques-directed "Sunny Dancer", a feel-good, coming-of-age flick.
Read piece →David Robert Mitchell is finally back. It might have taken eight years, but the "It Follows" and "Under the Silver Lake" director hits back with a bang. His newest flick, the J.J. Abrams-produced "The End of Oak Street" is an absolute blast.
Read piece →Relationships are complicated, but not all of us are stricken by the same conflict that many of our cinematic couples are faced with. Why is it that Hollywood has been so resistant to depict the happy couple?
Read piece →Matt Johnson's second 2026 release recounts the summer that changed a young Anthony Bourdain's life, shaping the path that he would spend the remainder of his professional career walking.
Read piece →Netflix's newest M. Night Shamyalan knock-off, The Last House, starring Wagna Moura and Greta Lee, is a tale of two halves.
Read piece →Following his previous directorial effort, 2024s Borderlands, Eli Roth is back and somehow worse than ever with his latest film, the irredeemable, AI-filled slop flick of the year, Ice Cream Man.
Read piece →With the 11th feature-length Spider-Man movie, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, now in the books, it's time to decipher where it sits amongst the other Spidey flicks.
Read piece →Has the industry been undervaluing the power of short-form horror cinema? We certainly think so, and here's why.
Read piece →Tansi Makele's award-winning short, L'Éclat, is one of the most inventive, poignant, and supremely crafted shorts available to watch in 50% Film's collection. We had a chat with the French filmmaker to dig a little deeper into the film.
Read piece →A list, courtesy of 50% Film's Brandon Pells, of everything to look forward to in August 2026 for cinema.
Read piece →Ten years on from Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Taika Waititi, Julian Dennison and Rachel House told 50% Film much the same thing about small films — separately, ninety seconds at a time, on a press line in London.
Read piece →The complete press-line interviews from the Hunt for the Wilderpeople 10th Anniversary screening — on short films, Marvel, small crews, and the day it wasn’t meant to snow.
Read piece →50% Film's James Learoyd sat down with director of Amy & I, Bastiaan Rook, to dig a little deeper into the films production, where the idea came from, and Bastiaan as a filmmaker.
Read piece →50% Film's Riley Bowen's conversation with the brilliant Joshua Haiden for his short film, Narben.
Read piece →50% Film's Riley Bowen's conversation with director Masha Maroutitch for the wonderful short film, Escape.
Read piece →July has been the biggest and most stacked month 2026 has had to offer thus far, filled with many of the most anticipated releases of the year. With the month now behind us, here's the best and worst it had to offer.
Read piece →The long awaited follow-up to the seismic cultural event that was Spider-Man: No Way Home, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, is finally here, but does it live up to the hype?
Read piece →Alongside the film's presentation on the site, we had a short conversation with Disclosure director, Alex Valderana, about the film and his journey as a filmmaker. Alex was a wonderful participant in this conversation and an even better guy, we couldn't be prouder to present his film.
Read piece →Jack Davies' brilliant short film Perseus is to be presented as part of 50% Film's Vol 1 of short films, and in preparation, we had a quick chat with the director.
Read piece →50% Film is incredibly proud to have Joey Lever's Cosmo as a part of our project. The award-winning short is gorgeous and brilliantly animated and we couldn't be luckier to have it. 50%'s Riley Bowen sat down with director Joey Lever to peel back the curtain on the film's production.
Read piece →My Last Day on Earth is one of the short's that 50% Film is incredibly excited to present, and director Pauliina Leskinen gives a little further insight into her process and journey thus far.
Read piece →From the makers of Winnie the Pooh: Bloody and Honey comes Pinocchio: Unstrung, a similarly strange but perhaps more successful attempt at this bloodthirsty childhood classic reimagining.
Read piece →Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey hit theatres just last week, and 50% Film's Brandon Pells takes a stab at ranking it alongside the rest of the acclaimed director's filmography.
Read piece →Recently, 50% Film presented Joshua Haiden's Narben on the short cinema section of our site, a film that all involved at 50% were incredibly moved by. Amongst us is Eloísa Nogaroli, a writer at 50% Film who shares her thoughts on the touching short.
Read piece →Andy Serkis' directorial career takes its latest turn in the direction of an adaptation of the legendary George Orwell novella, Animal Farm. For anybody wondering, spoiler alert: It's not good.
Read piece →Perhaps the 21st Century's defining filmmaker, Christopher Nolan, has once again proven why he's earned such a label through one of the great works of our time. The Odyssey is staggering in every imaginable way.
Read piece →Science Fiction has long been one of cinema's primary genres, wowing audiences and pushing the boundaries of what was previously deemed possible; but have we have we lost sight of what made it so special in the first place?
Read piece →Olivia Wilde is back and better than ever with an all-new adult comedy that proves her grip on the camera has never been stronger.
Read piece →Someone will tell you a short film is a business card. You make one, a producer reads it, and if it is good enough they hand you a feature. The short is the ask. The feature is the yes.
Read piece →“The internet isn't written in pencil, Mark. It's written in ink.”
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