In about a week and a half from now the 2010 Sundance Film Festival will get underway, and a few of us here at Cinematical (Scott Weinberg, Eric D. Snider, Kevin Kelly, Erik Childress and yours truly) will be heading to sunny Park City, Utah with one mission: to bring back word on what could be some of the hottest (and most worthwhile) independent films of 2010. While we continue our Sundance Primer series through this week, we also thought it might be a good time to throw some love at all the short films premiering at this year's festival (because once things get started, the poor shorts always seem to get shafted). Yes, this year's short film lineup does include films from Spike Jonze and James Franco -- and I'm sure you'll see coverage of those two all over these internets -- but what about the others?

We'll definitely try to get you some coverage of the shorts once the festival begins, but in the meantime a whole bunch of them have put up trailers online (and, keep this under your hat, but in some cases you can watch the entire film). In order to make it so you don't have tons upon tons of videos to scroll through, we decided to split this up into two parts. Today we'll bring you trailers, teasers and footage from the shorts screening in the following three categories: U.S. Dramatic Shorts, U.S. Documentary Shorts, and U.S. Animated Shorts. Next time we'll show you what's out there for all the foreign language shorts. Oh, and if you're involved with a film and there's a trailer online, but you don't see it on here, then shoot us a note and we'll make sure it gets the proper love.

Head after the jump to watch the first round of trailers ...

U.S. DRAMATIC SHORTS

Charlie and the Rabbit (Directors: Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck and Robert Machoian)-Charlie, a four year-old who loves Bugs Bunny, decides to hunt a rabbit of his own.



My Mom Smokes Weed (Director and Screenwriter: Clay Liford)-After a loyal son comes home to visit his aging mother, she assigns him some chores -- one of which involves a road trip to help satiate her desire for a certain special herb.



Successful Alcoholics (Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts; Screenwriter: T.J. Miller)-Drake and Lindsay are successful alcoholics who may need to redefine their definition of "success."



TUB (Director and Screenwriter: Bobby Miller)-It's just your typical story about a guy who can't commit to his girlfriend...who then jerks off in the shower...and accidentally impregnates his tub.



U.S. DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No (Director: James Blagden)-In celebration of the greatest athletic achievement by a man on a psychedelic journey, here's the animated tale of Dock Ellis' legendary LSD no-hitter.



Mr. Okra (Director and Screenwriter: T.G. Herrington)-An intimate look at one of New Orleans' most colorful characters, the charismatic vegetable salesman Mr. Okra, who provides a glimpse into the soul of an American city.



The S From Hell (Director: Rodney Ascher)-A documentary-cum-horror film about the scariest corporate symbol in history, the 1964 Screen Gems logo, aka The S From Hell. Built around interviews with survivors still traumatized from viewing the logo after shows like Bewitched or The Monkees, the film brings their stories to life with animation, found footage, and reenactments.



Thompson (Director: Jason Tippet)-Since second grade, Matt and Ryan have shared the bond of speech impediments, weapons, and things that go fast. But as their last days of high school speed by, the two friends find that their go-carts, dirt bikes, and RC cars can't outrun adulthood.



U.S. ANIMATED SHORTS

N.A.S.A. A Volta (Director and Screenwriter: Alexei Tylevich)-Another day, another drug deal gone wrong in this NC-17 bit of ultra violence, set in 8-bit isometric metropolis. Warning: NC-17



One Square Mile of Earth (Director: Jeff Drew; Screenwriters: Mark Chavez and Shenoah Allen) -Bill the bunny is a struggling novelist, who has never actually written anything, much to the chagrin of his perfectionist life partner, Gary the frog. Thad the bear is a hopeless romantic who can't find the right words to express his feelings for the scandalous and alluring Lucy the goat. And Leon the hippopotamus, one the coolest and hippest guys in town, has struck up a unlikely friendship with a down-on-his-luck high school sociology teacher, Pedro the mouse.