Short films are a lot like short stories.  Animation is one of my favorite art forms.  Put the two together….well, let’s just say I can easily spend a day sitting in the dark watching a short animation festival.

With everything going on, I don’t watch as many short films as I would like—I simply don’t have the time to go looking for them online—so when I heard about a new publication that featured short films along with short stories, I checked it out.  Waylines published its first issue this month, and while their website is wonky, it features a selection of fiction and two short films, one of which is absolutely fantastic.  Christopher Kezelas’ The Maker is a beautiful piece of animation that tells a fascinating story about the creative process.  The ending is simply brilliant.

I’ve often wondered why online publications haven’t featured short films, and after seeing Waylines, I wonder even more.  I would expect short films to appeal to short story readers due their many similarities—they are effectively short stories on film and because they tend to be non-commercial they can be more…well, literary, for lack of better word.  Maybe editors of the digital word aren’t comfortable “judging” short film and thus don’t include it.  Perhaps it’s more of a technical issue.  I don’t know.  But I do know that I like what David Rees-Thomas and Darryl Knickrehm have done over at Waylines, and I will be checking out future issues.

If you’ve got five minutes, I recommend you watch The Maker and then check out the rest of Waylines.