Class is the water people swim in, the doors that open or stay shut before anyone says a word, and short films are sharp at exposing it. In a few minutes they can lay bare who has power and who does not, and how that gap shapes a life. These films are hand-picked, complete, and free to watch. Stories about the lines we are born on the wrong side of.
British Graffiti follows a graduate bullied by supermarket coworkers who starts planning his revenge, and Bad Apples drops into near-future NYC where political radicals fight police brutality. Chasing The Vein documents a woman's addiction to heroin from the age of fifteen, while Crack Shot catches a former squash champion in a toxic father-son relationship.
The best short films about class and inequality refuse to look away. (Manic)quin follows an unemployed Plan B junkie having difficult conversations with a mannequin, and Debt Valley sets up a desert rendezvous that can only mean bad news. Picked by our editors, streaming free in all 193 countries, no sign-up needed. Press play, and mind the gap.