On constraints: How ‘less is more’ (in [teaching with] short films)

This article considers how constraints in higher education – particularly time constraints – may spark an unexpected pedagogical discovery: the unique value of short films in the film studies classroom. Beyond their logistical convenience for film teachers, short films also hold a range of insights into the generative potential of constraints themselves. The inherent limitations of short films – including restricted running times, tighter production schedules and smaller budgets – harbour lessons in aesthetic efficiency, intensified viewer engagement and experimentation in technique. Such reflections culminate in a brief analysis of Szél ( Wind ) (1996) and Nursery Rhymes (2018) as examples of how the short form’s demand for brevity breeds stylistic distillation and creative reduction. Constraints, in this sense, though restrictive, are also a means of discovering overlooked opportunities.