With the news dropping this week that Neill Blomkamp will officially be directing a sequel to Alien, I thought it would be cool to take a look back at the short film that made him a force to be reckoned within the science-fiction genre. This short takes me way back. Released in 2005, the Short was first brought to prominence upon the announcement by Peter Jackson that its creator was pegged to direct a live-action major motion picture based on the Halo video game franchise. The announcement had people scrambling to discover just who exactly this stranger was, and what they discovered was one incredibly slick and inventive 6 minute movie that alluded to South African apartheid through the guise of an Alien encroachment on earth. Well that Halo film never came to fruition, but in its place was the spiritual expansion of Alive in Joburg into a motion picture, a little film called District 9.

Alive in Joburg was also the first short film that got me interested in the short film medium. It opened my eyes to the pure level of creativity that could be incorporated into such a tiny package. It is awesome to see so many creators coming out of the short film system now and being given full feature films based on that creativity. I look forward to seeing who the next Blomkamp is, and whether maybe we have highlighted them on this site. The short is a serious form of film making, and let Alive in Joburg be your proof.

Follow Tom on Twitter @thomaskagar