Ask anyone who has spent a weekend at the San Jose International Short Film Festival which screenings stuck with them, and there’s a good chance they’ll name a comedy block. There’s nothing quite like a theater full of strangers cracking up at the exact same moment, and our Make ‘Em Laugh programs are a big reason people keep coming back every October.
With the 17th annual festival returning to Cinemark’s CineArts Theatre at Santana Row October 16–19, we dug back through the last few years of lineups for a little warm-up. Here are six comedy shorts from recent festivals, including two of our Best Comedy winners, and the best part is that every one of them is streaming in full, for free. No ticket required (though we’d love to see you in October).
A Guide to Dining Out in Nairobi
Directed by Hugh Mitton · Best Comedy, 2021
Juma is a security guard in Nairobi who gets a surprise tip from his wealthy boss: ten U.S. dollars. A sensible person might put it toward the electric bill. Juma puts on his best clothes and heads to one of the fanciest restaurants in town. What follows is a sharp, sunny little satire about money, class and just how far one bill can stretch, with the city itself practically playing a supporting role. It took home Best Comedy in 2021, and its ending still makes me grin every time.
Past Life
Directed by Rose O’Shea · Make ‘Em Laugh, After Dark, 2022
Terrence is an ambitious academic at a party thrown in his honor, working the room for the connections that could finally land him tenure. Everything is going to plan until he comes face to face with his nemesis: Herschel, a small dog who belongs to the very professor he’s trying to impress, and with whom Terrence has some unfinished business from a previous life. Written by Jessica Seay-Klatt and Andrew Hansen (who also plays Terrence), it’s a dry, deadpan comedy of manners that gets weirder in all the best ways.
Mahogany Drive
Directed by Jerah Milligan · Make ‘Em Laugh, 2023
Three friends rent an Airbnb for a relaxing weekend away. The house has other plans. Equal parts scary and hilarious, Mahogany Drive takes the haunted-house setup we’ve all seen a hundred times and flips it on its head, with Milligan and co-writers and co-stars James III and Jonathan Braylock reacting to the horror the way most of us actually would. It played Slamdance and Just For Laughs before landing in our 2023 comedy block, and it’s the rare horror movie you’ll want to watch with the lights on and the volume up.
Somewhere in Between
Directed by Kyle Vorbach · Opening Night, 2023
Two will-they-won’t-they friends are planning a low-key New Year’s Eve when a man from the future bursts through the door to tell them that the fate of the universe rests in their hands. No pressure. Starring Taylor Misiak, Ryan O’Flanagan and John Horan, who wrote it with Vorbach, it’s a quick, charming love letter to Back to the Future that premiered at Tribeca before helping kick off our 2023 festival on opening night.
Maggie’s Not Okay
Directed by Vance Smith · Best Comedy, 2024
Maggie is a lifelong people pleaser. So when she finds a lost cat, returning it should be the easiest good deed of her life. Instead, one completely unreasonable demand from the owner pushes her past her limit, and for the first time ever, Maggie pushes back. Written by and starring Mouzam Makkar, this dark comedy screened on our 2024 opening night, came back for the Make ‘Em Laugh block and went home with Best Comedy. If you’ve ever said “no worries!” when there were, in fact, worries, this one is for you.
Jane Austen’s Period Drama
Directed by Julia Aks & Steve Pinder · Make ‘Em Laugh, Again, 2024
England, 1813. In the middle of a long-awaited marriage proposal, Miss Estrogenia Talbot gets her period, and her dashing suitor, Mr. Dickley, mistakes the blood for an injury. It quickly becomes clear that his very expensive education missed a spot. Aks and Pinder nail the bonnets-and-ballrooms look of a classic costume drama while gleefully skewering it, and the film has picked up comedy and audience awards everywhere from Aspen Shortsfest to the Cleveland International Film Festival. It’s smart, silly and over far too soon.
See You in October
Want more? Every year’s winners live on our Awards page, along with each festival’s full lineup, and our News page has more picks, from animated shorts and sci-fi to documentaries and World Cinema. But if these six put you in the mood, the best way to watch a comedy is still the old-fashioned way: in a dark theater, with a few hundred strangers laughing right along with you. The 17th annual San Jose International Short Film Festival runs October 16–19, 2025. Grab your passes here, and we’ll save you a seat.
