The Best Short Movies on Prime Video

What it's about: A group of men travel to the moon by being shot in a capsule from a giant cannon. They are captured by moon-men, escape, and return to the earth. The film was the first film with a self-contained plot and was the beginning of the science fiction genre.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 2 services (Prime Video & PlayStation Store).

What it's about: A young boy makes a snowman one Christmas Eve, which comes to life at midnight and takes the boy on a magical adventure to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Ameba) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: It takes two or three generations for the monarch butterfly to reach the Canadian breeding grounds, but it is one "supergeneration" that makes the 2,000 mile return trip back south into central Mexico. The documentary film covers Dr Fred Urquhart's interest in monarch butterflies, with perspectives of Urquhart as a child wondering where the butterflies went, his years of research and study into their life and migration, to his time decades-later as a senior scientist looking back at his investigations and discoveries about the insect's life pattern.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Shout Factory TV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Five thought-provoking shorts imagine what Hong Kong will be like ten years from now. In Extras, two genial low-level gangsters are hired to stage an attack, but they’re mere sacrificial lambs in a political conspiracy. Rebels strive to preserve destroyed homes and objects as specimens in the mesmerizing Season of the End. In Dialect, a taxi driver struggles to adjust after Putonghua displaces Cantonese as Hong Kong’s only official language. Following the death of a leading independence activist, an act of self-immolation outside the British consulate triggers questions and protests in the searing yet moving Self-Immolator. In Local Egg, a grocery shop owner worries about his son’s youth guard activities and where to buy eggs after Hong Kong’s last chicken farm closes down.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Prime Video) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & YouTube).

What it's about: The magical tale of a mouse who takes a walk though the woods in search of a nut.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Prime Video).

What it's about: "Rakka" is the story of broken humanity following the invasion of a technologically superior alien species. Bleak harrowing and unrelenting, the humans we meet must find enough courage to go on fighting.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $4.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: A Pixar short about a lost-and-found box and the unseen monster within.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (Google Play, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: A follow up to the 2009 animated feature and adapted from the childrens' book by Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler. The Gruffalo's child explores the deep dark wood in search of the big bad mouse and meets the Snake, Owl and Fox in the process. She eventually finds the mouse, who manages to outwit her like the Gruffalo before!

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Prime Video).

What it's about: This film, shot in pixilation (a kind of stop-motion animation with actors), is about two neighbours who come to barbaric blows over a flower that straddles the property line.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Fandor, The Criterion Channel & 1 other) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Mr Hublot is a withdrawn, idiosyncratic character with OCD, scared of change and the outside world. Robot Pet's arrival turns his life upside down: he has to share his home with this very invasive companion...

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Stick Man lives in the family tree with his Stick Lady Love and their stick children three, and he's heading on an epic adventure across the seasons. Will he get back to his family in time for Christmas?

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Vudu).

What it's about: A wandering warrior finds an unlikely friend in the form of a young dragon. The two develop a close bond, until one day the dragon is snatched away. She then sets out on a relentless quest to reclaim her friend, finding in the end that her quest exacts a far greater price than she had ever imagined.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: A Summer Dress opens with the straitlaced Frédéric criticizing the more flamboyant Sébastien for incessantly prancing around their cabin while blasting his favorite '60s pop singer, Sheila. Frédéric bikes to the beach to escape and meets an older woman named Lucia who, without much conversation, leads him to a secluded spot where they have sex. Frédéric notices an onlooker during their lovemaking; when he returns to the beach, his clothes have been stolen. With no choice but to wear Lucia's spare dress, Sébastien prepares himself for an odd confrontation with Frédéric.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 2 services (Google Play & Prime Video).

What it's about: Having lost a bet with documentarian Errol Morris, Werner Herzog eats his shoe.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: The Japanese attack on Midway in June 1942, filmed as it happened.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Prime Video) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Australia: Land Beyond Time takes viewers on a breathtaking journey back in time to witness the birth and evolution of a mysterious land that harbors remnants of Earth's earliest life and many of it's strangest creatures that exist nowhere else on the planet.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Six fearless surfers travel to the north coast of Iceland to ride waves unlike anything they've ever experienced, captured with high-tech cameras.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: The Stooges are key witnesses at a murder trial. Their friend, Gail Tempest (a name whose parts are synonyms of each other), who dances at the Black Bottom cafe where the Stooges are musicians, is accused of killing Kirk Robin (a play on "Who Killed Cock Robin?"). Although the boys disrupt the proceedings, they manage to clear Gail's name and extract the real murderer's identity from a parrot.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: A school boy hangs around a mall in order to pick up older men and have sex in the public toilets. When his English tutor teaches him anal sex he is opened up to new experiences despite being caught by his disapproving father. When he meets a 18 year old he goes to the toilets only to be caught by security and charged. Despite his parent's disapproval he finds this makes him dedicated to one relationship but the sexual anonymity of the toilets is a constant lure for him.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Fandor) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Filmmaker Marc Fafard examines the historical and cultural significance of the seafaring Vikings.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: This moving documentary profiles a former Buddhist monk who runs a home for orphaned children in the Himalayas, and his relationship with its newest arrival, troubled five-year-old Tashi.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Featuring the same charming animation style of the original, and new music by former Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows, this sequel was created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Snowman (1982). A family, including young Billy and his elderly dog, is moving into the house from the original story, now in suburbia. As Christmas approaches, Billy stumbles across a box hidden by James, the boy from the original story. Night draws in, snow falls, Billy uses his new find, and a magical adventure begins...

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Ameba) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 2 services (Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: Powerful short film, which explores human existence at the most fundamental, personal level - what it means to be a conscious individual. Set hundreds of years in the future, a derelict spacecraft, controlled and powered by a human brain, floats aimlessly in the outer reaches of space. Trapped in the cold, mechanical prison of the vessel, the brain, which has no recollection or concept of self, miraculously begins to experience disjointed images of its former life - images it cannot understand. Yearning for freedom and yet unable to move, the brain devises a plan to build itself a mechanical body from parts of the ship. Maybe then it will understand the images it is seeing - maybe then it will feel alive.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: The rare original version of the classic underdog holiday story by ace animator Max Fleischer.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Dove Channel) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: When Thomas Overby mistakenly believes Aya is his assigned driver, she spontaneously decides to go along with the charade and drives him to Jerusalem. A stiff and guarded pianist, Overby is intrigued by the impulsive though melancholy Aya. As they slowly begin to connect, the film takes us on a journey we hope will never end.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Fandor & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: A lost soul stumbles drunken through the city. In a park, Death finds him and shows him many things.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Shemp has to get married within seven hours in order to inherit $500,000. Now that's incentive! The bumbling threesome set to work right away with hilarious results.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Comedian Jim Norton tackles the twisted state of the 21st century, including how modern technology affects everything from free speech to hooking up.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Solar Walk follows the journey of individuals and their creations in space.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: The silent routine of 5 Nuns living in the West Bank wilderness is disturbed when an Israeli settler family breaks down right outside the convent just as the Sabbath comes into effect.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Fandor & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: The Living Sea, a film about the world's oceans, increases sensitivity among peoples around the world to the beautiful, powerful, productive, but ultimately fragile, marine environment. Through the exciting use of marine technology, this vast scientific frontier will be explored with the people who are building a healthy coexistence with Earth's oceans.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: An English dreamer experiences both the beauty and harshness of nature when he relocates to the Canadian prairie.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: Trapped in a damaged cryogenic pod, a man is forced to watch a series of horrific science-fiction tales while his life support systems run out. Featuring eight intense stories of the unknown and other-worldly, equally wonderful and terrifying. Visit the GALAXY OF HORRORS, if you dare! Curated from Rue Morgue & Unstable Ground's Little Terrors Festival.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: A descent into the maelstrom of anguish that tormented Arthur Lipsett, a famed Canadian experimental filmmaker who died at 49. A diary transmuted into a clash of images and sounds charting a prodigious frenzy of creation, a tableau depicting an artist’s dizzying descent into depression and madness: with LIPSETT DIARIES, Theodore Ushev renews his filmmaking aesthetic and explores what happens when genius is on a first-name basis with madness.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: A young girl who lives in a remote wrecking yard takes on the local bullies when they travel out to torment her father.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: At an orphanage, the children are sad because they received defective toys as gifts. Professor Grampy sees the children while passing by in his sled and has an idea on how to give them a merry Christmas.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: A paraplegic man leaves home for the first time only to discover that life on the outside is not like he had imagined it.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: On the day after Christmas, a Catholic priest from Cork drives his nephew to prison.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: A female Lyft driver navigates the night shift in New York City while waiting to hear life-or-death news from her family in Syria.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: One summer afternoon in 1907, Abel and his wife (both mice) are picnicking, when they become separated during a violent rainstorm. After flying some distance, Abel discovers himself alone on a river island, unable to swim due to the powerful current. Abel periodically attempts to leave the island by various means: flying on a leaf, rowing a crudely fashioned boat, etc. Meanwhile, he tries to create a normal life of sorts, even learning to enjoy a new hobby: sculpture. Still, Abel's goal is to escape the island and rejoin his wife in the city.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Fandor) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Google Play).

What it's about: This second edition of Stone Bench Creations' anthology of short films contains four shorts with a prelude that are linked by their genre.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: The leopard shall lie down with the goat. The wolves shall live with the lambs. And the young boy will lead them. 12+1 kids and the carcass of a whale washed ashore…

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & The Criterion Channel).

What it's about: Comedy Dynamics sits down with Bill Hicks’ brother, Steve, who tells old stories, squashes old rumors and reveals the brother and son behind the late comedian. Told amidst old and rare footage, it’s a must watch for any fan.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix & Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Google Play).

What it's about: As midnight falls, all manner of terror invades the Earth. demons, cannibals, killers, ghosts and monsters swarm the world in these tales of the supernatural, the fantastic, and the just plain horrific. Featuring nine stories of horror.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: In the shadow of a space elevator, Simon Carter must sacrifice everything to save what remains of his family.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Parvaneh is a young Afghan immigrant who recently arrived at a transit centre for asylum seekers in the Swiss Alps. The only things she has got to know yet are the rural area surrounding the centre and the centre itself.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: From polar bears in the arctic tundra to black bears in the Northern Rockies, you'll see some of the most spectacular footage ever shot of these enterprising omnivores. Catch salmon with a group of hungry grizzlies on the McNeil River in Alaska. Crawl inside a den with a mother black bear and her cubs. Learn about the challenges facing each of these species as their habitat diminishes.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Emo kids Israel and Louie walk around their east Los Angeles neighborhood dishing about their high school classmates. After listening to Louie boast about his sexual escapades, Israel decides he has some catching up to do.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).