Short films are actually my preferred medium for watching at home, as I find that in my life I don't have much time for watching whole series, I need to see features in a cinema to be able concentrate on them for that long (but am grudgingly having to make do with home viewing for now) and do have a lot of time for imagining for myself what happens before and after the events of a short film. So I find it so nice to see not only the medium in general but Viddsee and Japanese Film Festival's free online programme getting some love on MDL! I will add that you're missing something if you're watching films on YouTube and not Vimeo.
Between the two, some films uploaded officially for free are only on YouTube, and some are only on Vimeo (after checking, I think most those mentioned in the article are only on YouTube). But if a film is on both in the same resolution and with the required subtitles, it's better to watch it on Vimeo in that the video quality on there is up to the level of paid services like Netflix and Prime Video, whereas YouTube is fine for blogs but the compression artefacts that even YouTube's highest quality has doesn't do much justice to films made for cinemas.
You can also sometimes find some extra content on Vimeo: for example, this video contains an English interview with Kosai Sekine, followed by "Right Place" with English subtitles: https://vimeo.com/608500
To add something of my own: one of my favourite things ever is Royston Tan's "Hock Hiap Leong", which I saw in what is now a long time ago on TV (bizarrely, a UK TV channel that had recently started was playing it regularly as a filler between programmes for what felt like months, and I eventually caught one of the broadcasts). I've just had a search, and it turns out it can now be seen for free on his Vimeo account at https://vimeo.com/246062552
Another of the most powerful live-action shorts I've seen is an (I seem to remember) Chinese one about a bus hijacking, but I cannot remember the title or anything else to identify it; again, I saw it on TV, when UK broadcast TV would show short films late at night. Any help with finding that would be appreciated, but I'm not expecting anyone to know it.
Also in that thread is a list of now-ended festivals at https://kisskh.at/discussions/general-asia-forum/51805-list-of-online-festivals-and-virtual-releases?pid=1290757&page=1#p1290757 which is still of use for finding out the titles and directors of the shorts they had selected and looking these up on Vimeo, YouTube, Viddsee or FilmDoo (another site with short films for free officially, as well as some otherwise hard-to-find features for rental). As, with shorts, there are so many out there for free that getting to see any isn't a problem – it's only knowing which are the ones worth seeing that is.
http://gagaoolala.com for subscription (and a few free), http://viddsee.com/topic/Sexuality for free, http://filmdoo.com/lesbian/page/1…
A lot of those I learnt of from the SNS feeds of the festival Queer East, linked to at the bottom of https://queereast.org.uk – though the festival takes place in London and some of their own online events are restricted to the UK, they link to lots of online events and releases that can be accessed worldwide.
In Northern America it can be rented with English subs from http://littlezombies.oscilloscope.net and is also (or was) played in a few cinemas, also listed on that page.
For the rest of the English-speaking world, you’ll have to wait for it to show at a festival you can see it at, or for it to be licensed and get a national release where you are, too.
Also this Korean American guy’s movies that he’s written, directed, edited and stars in; the first of two half-hour ones he’s made is up for free at https://vimeo.com/159595317
As well as YouTube, it can also be seen officially, for free, with English subs on dailymotion at https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5jzf0s and on Vimeo at either https://vimeo.com/170127382 or https://vimeo.com/215011367 – Vimeo is preferable, as it has much higher video quality (comparable to Netflix and other paid-for services rather than YouTube; if you use the TV app and your device is set up for it, it can even play movies in the original 24 fps instead of converting them to 60 Hz).
Between the two, some films uploaded officially for free are only on YouTube, and some are only on Vimeo (after checking, I think most those mentioned in the article are only on YouTube). But if a film is on both in the same resolution and with the required subtitles, it's better to watch it on Vimeo in that the video quality on there is up to the level of paid services like Netflix and Prime Video, whereas YouTube is fine for blogs but the compression artefacts that even YouTube's highest quality has doesn't do much justice to films made for cinemas.
You can also sometimes find some extra content on Vimeo: for example, this video contains an English interview with Kosai Sekine, followed by "Right Place" with English subtitles: https://vimeo.com/608500
To add something of my own: one of my favourite things ever is Royston Tan's "Hock Hiap Leong", which I saw in what is now a long time ago on TV (bizarrely, a UK TV channel that had recently started was playing it regularly as a filler between programmes for what felt like months, and I eventually caught one of the broadcasts). I've just had a search, and it turns out it can now be seen for free on his Vimeo account at https://vimeo.com/246062552
Another of the most powerful live-action shorts I've seen is an (I seem to remember) Chinese one about a bus hijacking, but I cannot remember the title or anything else to identify it; again, I saw it on TV, when UK broadcast TV would show short films late at night. Any help with finding that would be appreciated, but I'm not expecting anyone to know it.
If you haven't seen it, though maybe you have, I've been trying to keep track of online film festivals with Asian live-action shorts or features at https://kisskh.at/discussions/general-asia-forum/51805-list-of-online-festivals-and-virtual-releases?pid=1290747&page=1#p1290747 – some of which require paying for (though sometimes not very much), and some of which are free.
Also in that thread is a list of now-ended festivals at https://kisskh.at/discussions/general-asia-forum/51805-list-of-online-festivals-and-virtual-releases?pid=1290757&page=1#p1290757 which is still of use for finding out the titles and directors of the shorts they had selected and looking these up on Vimeo, YouTube, Viddsee or FilmDoo (another site with short films for free officially, as well as some otherwise hard-to-find features for rental). As, with shorts, there are so many out there for free that getting to see any isn't a problem – it's only knowing which are the ones worth seeing that is.
There are also some threads of lots of GL recommendations in the forum, some of which can be widely found legally online.
For the rest of the English-speaking world, you’ll have to wait for it to show at a festival you can see it at, or for it to be licensed and get a national release where you are, too.
Also this Korean American guy’s movies that he’s written, directed, edited and stars in; the first of two half-hour ones he’s made is up for free at https://vimeo.com/159595317
And here has many from around the world, though primarily from South East and East Asia, for free officially: https://www.viddsee.com/topic/sexuality