It’s been a big year for short films. Two of the dominant names in the 2026 conversation, Curry Barker and Kane Parsons, both used YouTube as their stomping grounds, making microbudget shorts on their own until their big breaks with “Obsession” and “Backrooms,” respectively. It’s a moment of validation for those who have been grinding away at moviemaking on their own, a sign that filmmakers no longer need permission to get their starts.
“I think it’s the greatest time for filmmakers, because you don’t have to worry about … dealing with the studios,” filmmaker Marcellus Cox told TheWrap on Wednesday during our Oscar-Qualifying Shorts Showcase. “Now, you control your own domain. You control the avenue at every point of your career that you want to at this point, and I think it’s about time that you see filmmakers … take that next step and take it into their own hands.
“I feel like, right now, we’re in the day where the technology is only getting better,” he continued. “These filmmakers are only getting smarter with their storytelling. It’s the greatest combination right now, and as we’re going forward, you’re only going to see more of this.”
Cox was there to talk about his new film, “Liquor Bank.” He was joined by four fellow directors: Connie He (“Dear Upstairs Neighbors”), Josh Wassung (“Optimus Prime: Awakening”), Joe Hsieh (“Praying Mantis”) and Huang Sheng-chun (“The Brave Swing”).
These shorts covered a breadth of topics. One is an emotional drama about sexual abuse and familial trauma (“The Brave Swing”). Another tells the story of a man’s battle with addiction and path towards recovery (“Liquor Bank”).
And then there is the hand-drawn animated short about a half-woman, half-mantis mother who kills men to feed her pool-bound child (“Praying Mantis”). According to Hsieh, that film, which took four years to make through a series of pencil illustrations, was inspired by his own mother (not that she was a mantis monster or anything like that).
“I really enjoy horror film, and I think that animation is the best way to show horror,” he said. “My mom, she’s just an ordinary mom. She didn’t wear the blue wig, but my mom, she was always encouraging me to chase my dream. She would go to the movie theater to watch my horror animation, and so I wanted to dedicate this to her. Actually, this idea comes from Asian moms. There are so many moms that are sacrificing themselves for their families, and my mom is one of them. I was the monster. I was the baby monster.”
Many of the filmmakers featured on Wednesday drew similar inspiration from their personal lives. Huang said “The Brave Swing,” which follows a young boy being sexually abused by his uncle, was based on an experience from the filmmaker’s childhood. Huang made the short in part to open up conversations about sexual abuse and violence against boys and men.
“I think in Taiwan or in Asia or all over the world, we just don’t talk enough about how boys are experiencing those situations,” Huang said. “They are encouraged, especially in Taiwan, to just grow up and be courageous and face what life throws at you. When I was young, I learned to pretend I was OK, and I learned how difficult a task it was. My goal with the film is to hope that more children will learn and that there can be an opportunity and chance to speak up and have a voice about this kind of experience, and maybe the world will be a little different.”
Cox wanted to open up similar conversations about addiction in “Liquor Bank.” The short takes an unglamorous approach to the topics of addiction and recovery, revolving around two characters discussing the hard truths that come with alcoholism and sobriety.
“Seeing the people that I know personally, there is no easy way to showcase and sell it. There’s no way where you can … make it warm and fuzzy, and at the same time tell the truth,” Cox said. “You’ve got to be as real with the material as possible, and that was what I feel I had to do, especially with the fact that I have known several of my own family members who have been in recovery, so it was a topic that, I don’t want to say that I know well, but I have seen it.”
One filmmaker’s short film took on an unexpected meaning between its development and its release. Wassung helmed a “Transformers” short film attached to the September theatrical rerelease of the 1986 animated film. The short revolves around the death of Optimus Prime, as featured in that ’80s movie, showing the iconic leader of the Autobots reckoning with his legacy in the afterlife.
But Peter Cullen, who reprises his role as Optimus in the short, died just weeks before “Optimus Prime: Awakening.” Wassung spoke about the joy of working with one of his childhood heroes and the poignancy his short took on as Cullen’s final time voicing the character.
“Optimus Prime died in the 1986 movie — spoiler alert — so because of that storyline, this film is reckoning with that death and how you incorporate that. How does someone think back on their life, but also think forward?” Wassung asked. “That was really about his character and all the iterations of Optimus Prime over the 40 years, but then when he passed, suddenly all of that hit so much harder. It suddenly became even more personal.”
While Wassung’s short pays homage to decades-old animation, another filmmaker incorporated new technology into her film. Connie He, who helmed “Dear Upstairs Neighbor,” discussed how “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and its sequel, “Across the Spider-Verse,” has made a mark on animation by encouraging expressionistic art styles. Working with engineers at Google, He combined her team’s concept art, paintings and animation with AI tools to iterate for their final product.
“In early days when I was experimenting, I found this style transfer technique, and I was like, ‘Huh. OK.’ I gave it an animation that I made myself, and I also did a painting on paper, and somehow it can merge in a way that I could never imagine before,” He said. “I was like, ‘OK, maybe there’s something here to dig deeper.’ The storyboard was started way before. At first, it was just a very self-expressionistic thing. Later on, after seeing what the style transfer technology can do, we reboarded the entire Act III trying to merge them together.
“We don’t want generated art, because we love our artists, and we want to honor the craft,” she added.
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