Ambition is a quiet engine, the thing that pulls people out of bed and toward something bigger than themselves. Short films are perfect for it, because they catch the single push, the audition, the gamble, the moment the dream meets the wall. These films are hand-picked, complete, and free to watch. Stories about wanting more.
A Certain Method follows a struggling actress who kills at the audition of her life, and Babyface is a fun doc about a childhood dream of becoming a pro wrestler. Artificial Dreams sits with a filmmaker torn over the price of commercial success, while British Graffiti watches a bullied graduate plan his way out from under his supermarket coworkers.
The best short films about dreams and ambition know how much it costs to want something. Crack Shot traps a former squash champ in a toxic father-son relationship, and (Manic)quin follows an unemployed dreamer talking himself in circles with a mannequin. Our editors chose each one, and they stream free in all 193 countries with nothing to sign up for. Press play and chase it.
