Last week for Short Film Friday, we posted Record/Play, one of the films shortlisted for Oscar nomination in the live action short category. Sadly, with the nominations being released yesterday, Record/Play was not on the list of nominated films. That is a shame because I can confidently say it was one of the best sci-fi films of 2013, short or long. You won’t find this week’s film on that list of nominations either, and yet it too is one of my favourite shorts from last year. This week’s SFF is the brief but sweet short film The Cub from kick-ass director Riley Stearns. I guess a film about parents giving their child to wolves to be raised as one of their own is not the usual M.O. for the academy. This is absurdest humour at its best. It is only 4 minutes long so to describe it in any more detail will give too much of the plot away. Instead I simply invite you to watch it. It is beautifully photographed. The camera rarely moves. It is almost hauntingly voyeuristic. The technique is very similar to past work by Stearns. I am thinking mainly of his 2012 short film Casque which was also a fantastic piece of absurd comedy starring the gorgeous Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Anyway, check out The Cub below!