Short films may lack the scale and sweep of their feature-length siblings, but the best of them offer a promise of perfection in miniature and a reminder that cinema is often an art of patience, precision and detail. These short documentaries often raise awareness about important issues that later prompt feature-length explorations and go on to have a profound impact–here's your chance to see them first! 

The Elephant Whisperers (Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga, India, 40 min) What unravels when a tribal couple decides to foster an orphaned baby elephant?

Haulout (Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev, UK, 25 min) A man waits in his hut in the desolate expanse of the Russian Arctic to observe a natural event that occurs every year, but ocean warming is taking its toll.

How Do You Measure a Year? (Jay Rosenblatt, USA, 29 min) A father films his daughter every year on her birthday, asking the same questions.

The Martha Mitchell Effect (Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison, USA, 40 min) This documentary profiles the Cabinet wife who spoke out during Watergate—and the Nixon administration's campaign to gaslight her into silence.

Stranger at the Gate (Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones, USA, 29 min) A US Marine plots a terrorist attack on a small-town American mosque. His plan takes an unexpected turn when he comes face-to-face with the people he sets out to kill.

Total program running time 2h46m