What is National Short Film Day?

National Short Film Day, December 28th, honors the day the motion picture industry was born, when the Lumière brothers unveiled a series of short films to a public audience for the first time.

Two brothers in 1895 at the Grand Café in Paris ignited the world's love of cinema. In a paying audience of 33 people, Auguste and Louis Lumière brought the fascination to life first.. On this day, the film pioneers premiered ten short films, each about 50 seconds in length. To the amazement of all those in attendance, the brothers caught daily life on film and brought them back as touching images. "Watching movies" came alive that day. And with those first ten short films, it all started.

Short films are available in a variety of genres, lengths, and styles today. They entertain us with animation, fantasy, comedies, and drama. They also inform and inform us through documentary subjects that may have never knew before. They also provide insight into real-life stories that may have never heard before.

Short films continue to move us, just as they did the first time over 120 years ago!