The short format has been the entry point for many important directors, yet short films—unlike short stories in literature—are rarely given public exposure, lucky to be consigned to the end of a DVD or screened as part of a directorial retrospective. During the 1950s and 60s short films were often released as anthologies, or “omnibus films.” Rossellini’s “The Chicken,” starring Ingrid Bergman, for instance, was part of a larger film about the everyday lives of actresses in Italy. Drawing on the many short films held in the HFA collection, this program features mature works, like Rossellini’s and a late film by René Clair, as well as the earliest of works of directors like Godard, Truffaut, Polanski, and Richard Lester, which provide interesting hints of the styles and subjects these directors would later embrace in long form.