Valentine’s Shorts

Valentine’s Shorts

12 Episodes

Get in the mood for love with a Valentine’s bouquet of shorts that celebrate passionate human connection in its many forms. Featuring gems from past masters like John Hubley (TENDER GAME), Pierre Etaix (HAPPY ANNIVERSARY), and Shirley Clarke (SAVAGE/LOVE) as well as insightful contemporary looks at romance across the spectrum of sexuality and gender (SNOW CANON, DIRTY, MASQUERADE), these cinematic bonbons capture the experience of love at its sweetest, sexiest, maddest, messiest, and most human.

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Valentine’s Shorts
  • Sunlight

    Episode 1

    Directed by Melvin Van Peebles • 1957 • United States

    Made in 1957 in San Francisco, SUNLIGHT is about a man who commits a petty crime out of love for a woman and features Melvin’s son Mario Van Peebles as the couple’s baby.

  • Tender Game

    Episode 2

    Directed by John Hubley • 1958 • United States

    A charming, inventively animated love story unfolds to the music of the Oscar Peterson Trio and Ella Fitzgerald.

  • Happy Anniversary

    Episode 3

    Directed by Pierre Etaix and Jean-Claude Carrière • 1962 • France

    A young woman waits and waits for her delayed husband to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

  • Plaisir d’amour en Iran

    Episode 4

    Directed by Agnès Varda • 1977 • France
    Starring Valérie Mairesse, Ali Rafie

    In this 1977 short film by Agnès Varda, Pauline and Darius explore the city of Isfahan, Iran.

  • Savage/Love

    Episode 5

    Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1981 • United States
    Starring Joseph Chaikin

    Director Shirley Clarke worked with writer Sam Shepard and actor Joseph Chaikin on this video piece that meditates on love and its effect on people.

  • The Short and Curlies

    Episode 6

    Directed by Mike Leigh • 1987 • United Kingdom

    David Thewlis and Alison Steadman star in this 1987 short comedy by Mike Leigh about a romance between a young woman who frequently changes her hairstyle and a young man who communicates only through one-liners.

  • Snow Canon

    Episode 7

    Directed by Mati Diop • 2011 • France
    Starring Nilaya Bal, Nour Mobarak, Alban Guyon

    In an isolated chalet in the snowy reaches of the French Alps, the relationship between a teenage girl and her babysitter assumes increasingly complex, intimate dimensions.

  • I Love You So Much

    Episode 8

    Directed by Leah Shore • 2014 • United States
    Starring Leah Shore, Jarret Kerr

    Pillow talk takes a surreal turn in a shape-shifting blend of live action and animation.

  • Bayard & Me

    Episode 9

    Directed by Matt Wolf • 2017 • United States

    Bayard Rustin was the organizer of the March on Washington and one of the leaders of the civil rights movement. In the 1980s, Bayard adopted his younger boyfriend, Walter Naegle, to obtain the legal protections of marriage. In this intimate love story...

  • The Field

    Episode 10

    Directed by Sandhya Suri • 2018 • India, France, United Kingdom
    Starring Mia Maelzer, Ravi Choudhuri, Vittha Nagnath Kale

    As the harvest approaches in a small Indian town, Lalla, a poor agricultural laborer caught in an unsatisfying marriage, risks everything to find the sense of fulfillment she...

  • Dirty
    10:59
    Episode 11

    Dirty

    Episode 11

    Directed by Matthew Puccini • 2020 • United States
    Starring Morgan Sullivan, Manny Dunn

    High school boyfriends Marco and Graham cut class for a romantic rendezvous in bed—but things don’t go quite as planned in this tender, emotionally raw snapshot of two queer teenagers navigating intimacy toge...

  • Masquerade

    Episode 12

    Directed by Olive Nwosu • United Kingdom, Nigeria • 2021
    Starring Teniola Aladese, Sheila Chukwulozie, Loveth Onyemaobi

    Salewa (Sheila Chukwulozie), a young queer woman living with her wife in London, returns to her hometown in Nigeria for her mother’s funeral. There, she confronts her complex f...