Blue Tongue Films, a highly-regarded Australian production company, has created a number of popular films over the past few years, and are one of the most well-known short film production companies in the world. Four notable directors founded this venture in 1996: Joel & Nash Edgerton, Kieran Darcy-Smith and Tony Lynch. They have expanded the list of directors to include Luke Doolan, Spencer Susser and David Michôd.

Blue Tongue had an interesting beginning. The Edgerton brothers were both involved in many big-name films before they started their own creative work. Joel acted in Star Wars: Episodes II and III, portraying Anakin Skywalker’s step-brother, Owen Lars. Nash Edgerton was Ewan McGregor’s stunt double throughout the Star Wars prequels.

Its great to see that they continue to stick to their roots. After making a major hit, many smaller studios stop making shorter films. Blue Tongue brings together large feature-length productions but continues to create fantastic shorts.

I find this exciting because short films are still a growing (but somewhat unrecognized) form of filmmaking. Many people associate short film with something they see on YouTube or so-called “student” film making. Film critic Suchandrika Chakrabarti expresses my exact opinion when she says, “for too long short films have remained the forgotten art form; a consistently underrated medium that has never been given the exposure it demands.”

They have produced a number of short films since their inception and have even gone on to create a couple feature-length films. One of them, The Square, is on a limited theatrical release around the States starting April 9th. David Michôd’s feature-length drama Animal Kingdom was awarded the World Cinema Jury Prize this last Saturday at Sundance Film Festival. Mr. Michôd has directed some of my favorite of their films. Here is a short film he made a couple of years ago, titled Netherland Dwarf: