Many acclaimed filmmakers have started their careers by making short films, as they are more affordable to make. But some filmmakers have gone ahead and expanded their own not-so-popular shorts into full-length feature films. There are other directors who have been inspired by shorts and based their own feature films on them. While many of these films have been widely successful, the short films that they were inspired from are often forgotten.
From Andhadhun to Lights Out, here's a list of feature films that are based on some of the most interesting short films made earlier:
Andhadhun
Back in 2013, director-writer Sriram Raghavan had watched L’Accordeur (The Piano Tuner), which was a 2010 French short film about a blind pianist, at the recommendation of his friend, filmmaker Hemanth M Rao. He liked the film and got inspired to make Andhadhun, a film whose script is based on the short, starring Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, and Radhika Apte in the lead roles. The film released theatrically in India in October 2018 and received critical acclaim.
Andhadhun is currently streaming on Netflix.
Whiplash
Before Whiplash could be made into one of the masterpieces of cinema, writer and director Damien Chazelle had initially lacked sufficient financial funding to make the feature film even after having gained a small level of success and recognition within the industry with a few of his scripts earlier. In order to win the trust of potential producers and receive the right financial backing for the film, Damien had shot just one scene from the movie with a little amount of money, which was released as a short film to be entered in various film festivals. This plan worked out brilliantly, thus helping him launch his career with Whiplash and eventually go on to make La La Land, a film that fetched him an Oscar.
Currently unavailable on OTT platforms in India.
Lights Out
What if something lived in the dark that you could only see when you turned out the lights? This simple question became the entire premise of 3-minute low-budget experimentation and gave birth to the short film Lights Out in 2013. Unlike most other shorts, its maker David F Sandberg didn’t showcase it at any mainstream film festival but instead entered it in a niche horror filmmaking challenge and won a prize. Several months later, studio heads got a whiff of the short streaming on YouTube and Vimeo, after which it went on to become a mega-successful feature-length film of the same name, by the same director.
Lights Out is streaming on Amazon Prime India.
Piku
Elements of the 2015 hit film Piku are loosely adapted from a short film made in 1980 by none other than the auteur himself - Satyajit Ray. Named Pikoo, the short was directed by him for a French television channel, France 3. The movie is based on a short story named Pikoor Diary (Pikoo’s Diary), written by Satyajit for one of his books, Pikoor Diary O Onyanyo (Pikoo’s Diary and Other Stories). While the short film showcases a day in the life of a six-year-old child Pikoo, in the backdrop of his mother’s extramarital affair, Soojit Sircar’s quirky comedy feature Piku is about the relationship between a daughter and her aging father whose eccentricities drive everyone crazy.
The movie, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Irrfan Khan, and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles, is available on SonyLIV for streaming.
The Babadook
In 2005, director Jennifer Kent made a short film named Monster that inspired her 2014 horror feature The Babadook. Called ‘Baby Babadook’ by the director, Monster was shot in an eerie black and white reel. While both the films stand true to their gut-wrenching horror, The Babadook displays some truly terrifying moments that are far too rare in short-form horror.
Currently unavailable on OTT platforms in India.
Yes, God, Yes
Yes, God, Yes is a 2019 comedy feature film written and directed by Karen Maine, co-writer of the 2014 hit comedy Obvious Child. The film, starring actress Natalia Dyer in the lead, is a story about a Catholic teenager in the early ’00s, who after an innocent AOL chat that turns racy, discovers masturbation and struggles to suppress her urges in the face of eternal damnation. Originally, Yes, God, Yes was a short film written and directed by Karen Maine, and premiered in 2017 as a Vimeo Staff Pick. The short received 2.9 million views and also won “Best Short” at the St. Louis International Film Festival. It was after the success of the short that its makers, Karen and producers Katie Cordeal and Colleen Hammond, went ahead to make it into a full-length feature film.
Currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video in India.
Pixels
Created in 2015, Patrick Jean’s Pixels became quite a sensation on YouTube. The brilliantly crafted short film shows New York City invaded by characters from ’80s video games: Donkey Kong throws barrels down from the Empire State Building, Tetris blocks cause skyscrapers to vanish, and so on. Its popularity encouraged Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions to acquire its rights, which then resulted in a feature film in theatres.
Currently unavailable on OTT platforms in India.
Short Term 12
Writer and director Destin Daniel Cretton made a short film titled Short Term 12 first before it manifested into the acclaimed feature of the same name. The feature film is an emotional and heart-wrenching indie starring Brie Larson, Kaitlyn Dever, LaKeith Stanfield, and Rami Malek that deals with a group of young instructors at a treatment centre for troubled youth. Interestingly, certain similarities can be spotted in the two versions, particularly the appearance of LaKeith Stanfield in both.
Currently unavailable on OTT platforms in India.