Little Minx

I am constantly amazed by the audacious power of the short film. And I shouldn't be. I have seen numerous short films that compress, in mere minutes, the sort of muscular storytelling and palpable emotion that many feature films never come close to touching.

Case in point: the “Exquisite Corpse” film series. Based on the French parlor game of the same name, this series was created by the commercial production company Little Minx, a division of RSA Films (Ridley Scott’s production company) to showcase their talented lineup of directors working in film, television and commercial production.

Among the directors is my friend, and fellow NYU alumnus, Phillip Van. Phil and his fellow directors, Chris Nelson, Josh Miller and Malik Hassan Sayeed were charged with writing and directing their own short films, all following one golden rule: they must respond to the last line of text from the previous director's script.

The result was inspired, funny, tragic, mind-bending and unquestionably beautiful.

Below are some stills from Phil's entry, She Stares Longingly at What She has Lost.

Check out all the films in this series at Exquisite Corpse.

To see other films Phil has made, click here.