Addiction is rarely a single dramatic fall; it is a slow narrowing, a life rearranging itself around one need. Short films catch that pull without flinching and without preaching, holding one person long enough to understand the grip. These films are hand-picked, complete, and free to watch. Stories about the habits that take more than they give.

Chasing The Vein is a documentary tracing a woman's heroin addiction from the age of fifteen, and Stray Dog is a Swiss street drama where loneliness, crime and drugs slowly tighten their grip. The Nightingale follows a singer battling through PTSD after a sexual assault, while Skin stars Tom Sturridge (The Sandman) as a man grappling with grief.

The best short films about addiction sit close to the wound rather than judging it. A Street Cat Named Desire follows a tourist ensnared by a world of sex, drugs and cats, and The Red City watches a vampire forced back into the hunt when his blood supply runs dry. Editor hand-picked, free in 190 countries, no subscription and no sign-up. Hit play, and look closer.