5 Short Films to Watch... if you've never watched short films before!

Short films often evade me for a variety of reasons - I'm too lazy to sit and watch something for 15 whole minutes, my gods damn work computer is so slow that it can't actually process video (trufax! I've actually only seen every 8th frame of the Deathly Hallows trailer!), I don't have headphones and my flatmates are watching tv... the excuses pile up!

My newfound addiction to io9 and an empty living room this evening prompted me to sit down and make my way through some of the short films I had bookmarked - and woah was it worth it.

Whether you've never watched a short film in your life or you are a veritable connoisseur (in which case I suspect you will have seen all of these anyway), at least one of these films should definitely be for you. Give them a shot; I urge you.

1. Sintel tells the heartbreaking story of a lone warrior and her dragon. Originally born as a proof-of-concept for an open source 3D creation suite called Blender, Sintel was funded by internet donations and premièred at the Netherlands Film Festival in September. It has since, justifiably, become an online sensation.

2. Fallen - aka the brief story of the cutest meteorite that ever was - catalogues the brief life of a burning lump of space rock that realises its own existence shortly before coming to an abrupt halt. Yes, yes, we all know the sperm whale got there first - and more amusingly - but this is an adorable little short and coming in at 3:50, it's not too taxing.

Fallen from Sascha Geddert on Vimeo.

3. The Anachronism is simply gorgeous. Part steampunk, part children's adventure story, part love letter to British Columbia, this one is well worth 15 minutes of your time. Two would-be explorers document the flora and fauna in the woodland surrounding their home - until they stumble on an occupant that they couldn't possibly have expected. The worthy winner of 6 Leo awards.

The Anachronism (Full Film) from Anachronism Pictures on Vimeo.

4. Just about as different in tone as you can get from the previous offerings, When It Will Be Silent is the beautiful, stylised sophomore project of film student Dan Sachar. A post-apocalyptic vignette that will take your breath away.

When it Will Be Silent (כשיהיה דומם) from Dan Sachar on Vimeo.

5. I'm cheating this one a bit, as it's actually about two films and there are only trailers available. These two short films from Polish filmmaker Grzegorz Jonkajtys look truly remarkable. The Ark has won multiple awards and even won Best of Show at Cannes in 2007. The only remaining survivors of an unknown virus that has claimed most of mankind take to the sea in order to survive. Stunning and unusual animation.

The 3rd Letter shows a remarkable vision of a dystopian future in which mankind utterly depends on bio-mechanical alteration to withstand the declining climate. The only place worse than America to lose your health insurance - as Jeffrey Brief learns.

Please suggest any other short films you may have come across that you think are particularly remarkable - and please give some of these a chance; they are incredible stories, each in their own way.