Fire in Paradise is a 2019 documentary film directed by Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper and starring Joy Beeson, Beth Bowersox, and Abbie DavisHiyori Kon. The film focuses on the 2018 wildfire in Paradise, California, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. Fire in Paradise premiered at the 2019 Telluride Film Festival. It also showed at the 2019 Hamptons International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Short Film and was released on Netflix on November 1, 2019.

Documentary filmmakers Canepari and Cooper made a name for themselves with their series California is a place – a collection of short films (of which we featured Aquadettes and Uppercut) celebrating the Golden State. While their Netflix doc Fire in Paradise shares a familiar location, the tone of their latest short could not be more different from their earlier work.

A devasting of the deadliest wildfire in California swept through the titular town of Paradise, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Constructed from distressing first-hand footage filmed from those struggling to escape the fire, alongside talking-head interviews with survivors and responders, this 40-min short is a dynamic and impactful watch. It is the kind of scenario you would see in a feature-length disaster film and find difficult to believe, except this time the tension and risks are real.

Detail information:

Link film: https://www.netflix.com/title/81050375

Initial release: September 1, 2019

Running time: 40 minutes

What Did Jack Do? is a 2017 American black-and-white short film written and directed by David Lynch. It premiered on November 8, 2017, at the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain in Paris. It was later released to Netflix on January 20, 2020. In the movie, a detective interrogates a capuchin monkey who possibly committed a murder.

It is a strange film of 17 minutes" On May 20, 2018, the short had its U.S. premiere during Lynch's "Festival of Disruption" in New York. On January 20, 2020, the date of Lynch's 74th birthday, the short was made available for streaming to Netflix.

Another example of a prestige director with a short film on Netflix, but where PTA felt like he was breaking new ground with Anima, Lynch goes full Lynchian in this 17-min short that surprisingly dropped on Netflix earlier in 2020. With the director taking a starring role in his film, alongside a monkey in a suit, that he's subjecting to a stern line of questioning about a murder, What Did Jack Do? is steeped in Lynch's trademark non-sequiturs and absurd sense of humor.

Detail information:
Link film: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81226955
Initial release: November 8, 2017
Running time: 17 minutes

A Love Song for Latasha is a 2019 American biographical documentary short film directed by Sophia Nahli Allison. The film reimagines the life of Latasha Harlins, a Black Los Angeles girl shot and killed by a convenience store owner in 1991. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject at the 93rd Academy Awards.

Allison spent two years making A Love Song for Latasha, serving as director, cinematographer, editor, and producer. Allison wanted to create a piece restoring the memory of Harlins' life and death to their significance in those events, often described only as of the Rodney King riots. But the organization's indifference and incomprehension of the subject's significance prompted Allison to realize that she could no longer work within institutions that do not validate the importance of her existence. Instead, she worked closely with Harlins' friends, depicting their childhoods and South Central Los Angeles. Alice Walker and Saidiya Hartman were influenced by Allison's approach to creating a missing archive in the absence of home videos or other archival footage of Harlins.

A Love Song for Latasha reimagines the life of Latasha Harlins, a Black girl shot by a convenience store owner in Los Angeles in 1991, fueling the 1992 uprising. At the time, It broadcasted security camera footage of Harlins' death widely on television news, but Allison's work does not include it. Instead, Jude Dry wrote in IndieWire, the 19-minute film is "bursting with sun-kissed sidewalks and faded basketball courts, clean line animation and radiant Black girls posed gracefully, like young queens." The day of the shooting is depicted in animation, intercut with VHS tape static, to heighten the sense of memory despite the lack of any home movies of Harlins.

The film reimagines the narrative of Harlins through intimate memories shared by her cousin Shinese Harlins and best friend, Tybie O'Bard. A Love Song for Latasha focuses on how she experienced society and what dreams and hopes she developed rather than focusing on her death.

Detail information:

Link film: https://www.netflix.com/title/81304985

Initial release: April 28, 2019

Running time: 19 minutes

Ghosts of Sugar Land is a 2019 documentary film directed by Bassam Tariq, written by Thomas Niles and Bassam Tariq, and starring Jennifer Julian and Kc Okoro. The premise revolves around Mark, a young American Muslim man who converted to Islam and became radicalized. The film premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was released on Netflix on October 16, 2019. As of October 2021, 100% of the six critical reviews compiled on Rotten Tomatoes are positive, with an average rating of 8/10.

A favorite of the festival circuit from 2019, Tariq’s Sundance-winning doc invites you into the lives of a group of young Muslims, and they attempt to understand the disappearance of a close friend. With a story that plays out like a true-crime narrative, as the interviewees try to unravel whether their friend was an extremist or an informant, Ghosts of Sugar Land finds the perfect balance between entertainment and insight, making it one of the most accessible short docs on Netflix.

Alongside its Sundance win for Short Film Jury Award: Non-fiction, Tariq’s doc was also nominated for the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the festival and awards at SXSW and Sheff DocFest in the same year. With his debut feature Mogul Mowgli making a splash on the festival circuit in 2020, Tariq’s filmmaking stock is rapidly rising.

Detail information:
Link film: https://www.netflix.com/title/81081656
Initial release: January 26, 2019
Running time: 21 minutes

Zion is a 2018 short documentary film following Zion Clark, born without legs, growing up in foster care, and becoming a wrestler. The documentary was released on Netflix on August 10, 2018.

A portrait of Zion Clark, a teen born without legs and raised in foster care, who finds confidence through competitive wrestling, Zion is a visually dramatic, hi-energy, hi-inspiration affair, practically the platonic ideal of an internet profile doc. Its arc is a bit rote, and the film can be accused of being more flash than substance, but if you love these kinds of pop docs, you will be hooked, and at only 11 mins, it is a welcome relief from the 40min docs that are the usual Oscar short subject fare.

Detail information:

Link film: https://www.netflix.com/title/80239831

Initial release: August 10, 2018

Running time: 12 minutes

In Bethlehem, decades after an ecological disaster, the dying founder of an underground orchard engages in a dialogue with her young successor, born underground and has never seen the town she is destined to replant and repopulate.

Set decades after an ecological disaster has engulfed the biblical city of Bethlehem, In Vitro, is a black and white speculative sci-fi short blends stunning visuals with several complex themes to make for an original, absorbing watch. Screened at the BFI London and Locarno film festivals in 2019 and co-directed by Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour and Danish author Søren Lind this slow-paced, dialogue-driven approach to science-fiction won't be to everyone's taste. Still, it is one of the most memorable and distinct genre shorts we have seen in some time.

Detail information:
Link film: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81504295
Initial release: May 11, 2019
Running time: 28 minutes

Two Distant Strangers is a 2020 American short film written by Travon Free and directed by Free and Martin Desmond Roe. The film examines the deaths of Black Americans during encounters with police through the eyes of a character trapped in a time loop that keeps ending in his death. Two Distant Strangers won the Best Live Action Short Film award at the 93rd Academy Awards, marking distributor Netflix's first win in the category.

In New York City, Black graphic designer Carter James tries to get home to his dog, Jeter, the morning after a first date, only to find himself trapped in a time loop in which he is repeatedly confronted in the street by a white NYPD officer, Merk. Merk wonders whether Carter is smoking a joint and wants to search his bag. Each encounter ends with Carter being killed by the police then waking up in the bed of his date, Perri. In one version of the loop, riot police burst into Perri's apartment, mistaking it for a different apartment because the door number is hanging upside down, and shoot him there.

After 99 deaths, Carter decides to discuss the situation with Officer Merk. Carter tells him about the time loop, offering Merk evidence by predicting what people around them will do next. Carter asks Merk to drive him home. The journey ends without mishap; Merk and Carter get out of the patrol car and shake hands. But as Carter turns to enter his apartment building, Merk starts applauding what he calls Carter's "noble performance," revealing that Merk remembers the previous loops too. Merk then shoots him in the back while a pool of blood starts forming in the shape of Africa and says, "See you tomorrow, kid." Carter wakes up once more in Perri's bed. Undeterred, Carter leaves Perri's apartment to make yet another effort to get home. As the song "The Way It Is" plays, names of Black Americans who have died in encounters with police are listed.

Winner of the 2021 Live Action Short Film Academy Award. Two Distant Strangers feels not only like a parable for this particular moment but also a culmination of all that has come before it, forcing us as viewers to reckon with our prejudices and biases, refusing to let us off easy with a neat and safe conclusion.

Detail information:

Link film: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81447229

Initial release: November 20, 2020

Running time: 41 minutes

The White Helmets is a 2016 British short documentary film. The film follows a group of volunteer rescue workers of the Syrian Civil Defence, the White Helmets. It was directed by Orlando von Einsiedel and produced by Joanna Natasegara. It won the Best Documentary (Short Subject) at the 89th Academy Awards.

Hopefully, if you’re looking to satisfy a short film fix on Netflix, you love documentaries. Netflix’s acquisitions to date are highly focused on sourcing Oscar contenders, and with this Syrian War film, Netflix finally scored a win.

Two years after being nominated for the feature film Virunga, von Einsiedel took home an Oscar, beating out fellow Netflix pickup Extremis. A deserved win; we have been captivated by media coming out of the Syrian conflict. The White Helmets is a wrenching portrait of the bravery of a corp of non-aligned citizens dedicated to pulling survivors out of the rubble in the wake of bombing attacks. Relevant and affecting.

Detail information:

Link film: https://www.netflix.com/watch/80101827

Initial release: September 16, 2016

Running time: 41 minutes

Anima is the third studio album by English musician Thom Yorke, released on 27 June 2019 through XL Recordings. It was produced by Yorke's longtime collaborator Nigel Godrich. Anima comprises electronic music developed through live performances and studio work, with themes of anxiety and dystopia. It was accompanied by a short film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson released on Netflix and in select IMAX theatres. A music video was also released for "Last I Heard (...He Was Circling the Drain)".

Anima began with a concept from Yorke about workers whose "bodies do not work anymore" and are being "pushed by an invisible force." The team wanted the first sequence to be "oppressive and hyper-precise, so it feels like a machine," influenced by dystopian stories such as Nineteen Eighty-Four and Metropolis and the physical comedy of Charlie Chaplin. For the "Traffic" sequence, the team created a platform inclined at a 34-degree angle and placed the camera at the same angle, erasing the slope.

A review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the Anima film, holds an approval rating of 100% based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 8.05/10. It was nominated for Best Music Film at the 2020 Grammy Awards.

Detail information:

Link film: https://www.netflix.com/title/81110498

Initial release: June 27, 2019

Running time: 15 minutes

Robin Robin is a 2021 British stop-motion animated musical streaming television special produced by Aardman Animations and created and directed by Dan Ojari and Mikey Please with a script they wrote with Sam Morrison. It was nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the 94th Academy Awards.

When a robin bird grows up from being raised by a family of mice, her differences become more apparent every time they try to sneak into a Who-Man's house. She sets off on a daring heist to steal a shiny star and prove to her family and a malicious cat that she can be a perfect mouse.

The charming tale of a robin raised by mice follows its avian lead as she tries to prove her worth to her adopted rodent family. Sporting adorable needle-felt characters, catchy songs, and the magical stop-motion craft you always associate with an Aardman production, Robin Robin looks set to become a new festive tradition in households worldwide.

Detail information:

Link film: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81058433

Initial release: November 27, 2021

Running time: 31 minutes