Best of Staff Picks: sour grapes, tasseled globes, legendary laps

While working on a farm in 2013, Meghan would come home, fill a mug with ice cream, and watch Vimeo videos until she fell asleep. She now gets paid to do that. Peep her Ladies With Lenses channel for A+ gals in film www.vimeo.com/channels/ladieswithlenses
Meghan Oretsky
Animated collage of still images from Staff Pick films

Every month, the Vimeo Curation team finds the best short films on the internet and serves them up on a silver platter, a.k.a. the Best of Staff Picks series. For a bite-size taste of essential watching, we present this playlist of our faves. Sit back, press play, and enjoy!


Action Sports

The Perfect Lap,” from Sabertooth Pictures, directed by Robjn TaylorIan Schiller, and Dustin Cook

What happens when you taste perfection? It’s the year 2063, and legendary mountain biker Matty Miles has been in self isolation for 43 years after completing “The Perfect Lap.” A reminiscent look back at the year 2020 and the Golden Age of mountain biking.


Branded Content


You Love Me,” from PRETTYBIRD, directed by Melina Matsoukas for Beats by Dre 

Two-time Grammy winner Melina Matsoukas lends her talent as a music video director to Beats by Dre, calling out the hypocrisy of a culture that idolizes the work of Black artists yet tolerates systematic racism. In two minutes sharp, Matsoukas gets her point across with a style and seriousness that refuses to let you look the other way. 


A Love/Hate Relationship,” directed by Anna Ginsburg for Breast Cancer Now

Melons, ittie bitties, tasseled, saggy, hairy, pierced and tattooed, women have a complicated relationship with their breasts. No matter their size or potential for decoration, Breast Cancer Now wants you to check them often for abnormalities! Anna Ginsburg sprinkled her 2D magic dust on this adorable branded ditty for the well-being of globes around the globe. 


Comedy


Dancer Boy,” from The Dads, directed by Parker Seaman and Evan Scott

Nobody puts Parker Seaman in the corner, not even a friend who affectionately told him he dances “funny.” To prove he’s seriously good at dancing, Seaman took his skills all the way to a national dance competition, where he competed uncontested in the “Males 20-29” category. 


Commercial


This Is Why,” directed by Mark Zibert for SickKids

Part of a multi-ad campaign for SickKids Hospital, aka The Hospital for Sick Kids Foundation in Toronto, ON, Mark Zibert’s heart-wrenching commercial shows the devastating contrast of anguish and triumph that occurs behind a pediatric hospital’s walls. Set to the tune of a children’s choir singing Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt,” expect not to take a breath during the two minute length of this emotional commercial. 


Documentary


TRUMP A.C/D.C,” from Calliope Pictures, directed by Daniel DiMauro and Morgan Pehme

Consisting of old commercials, news reports, and TV show interviews stitched together, “TRUMP A.C/D.C” is a documentary about Donald Trump’s journey as a businessman in A.C (Atlantic City) to the White House in Washington, D.C.


Drama


I’ll End Up In Jail,” from Travelling Distribution, directed by Alexandre Dostie

“I’ll End Up In Jail” is a black dramedy the curation team saw and fell in love with at Sundance Film Festival in January. We were big fans after seeing it at the start of the year, so much so that we gave it our unofficial jury award for International Fiction. Little did we know how relevant a film about an isolated woman losing her marbles would be for the remainder of 2020. (Read more about “I’ll End Up In Jail” in our interview with the filmmaker, here.)


Experimental


Knife Hanging From A Tree,” directed by JiHee Nam

The description for JiHee Nam’s first Staff Pick simply says “sour grapes.” Inspired by its twin Korean saying, “Since I can’t eat the persimmon, let me stab it,” this cryptic beauty is ultimately about endless greed and repeated mistakes. 


Music Video


Khai Dreams – Good Advice,” directed by Joseph Melhuish

It’s your typical fire prevention PSA: a young woman forgets about a cigarette butt, draws a bath, and disappears into a magical underwater world for hours while her house burns down. What if D.A.R.E presentations in elementary school had been this freaking awesome?


Duck Sauce – Mesmerize,” directed by Keith Schofield 

Morgan Freeman, Daniel Craig, and Vin Diesel walk into a club, and the rest is exploding heads, super corny stock footage, PornHub tabs, and complicated simulation hypotheses. Have you seen Keith Schofield’s other music videos? They’re just as crazy. If you dig this video, check out Schofield’s 2016 Best of the Year winner. 


Travel


A Taste of Los Angeles,” directed by FilmSpektakel

Vienna-based production company FilkSpektakel has spent 7 years making their “A Taste of…” series, which shows off their talent with experimental filming techniques. The team of four spent 13 days in Los Angeles, shot 155,568 photos, used 5.3 terabytes of data, and sat in front of the computer for 64 days assembling it all into one seamlessly beautiful time lapse video that made our heads spin. All 4 episodes have been Staff Picked thus far, with New York and now Los Angeles earning a Best of the Month badge. 

More Best of Staff Picks lists 


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