Ninety-eight per cent of modern day Hollywood films are about as satisfying as pre-sliced white bread.

As with your average loaf, you already know exactly what you are going to get: Hot air and unnecessary addictives, usually stale and way past its sell by date.

As the Hollywood studios seem to be testing human pain thresholds with three-hour torture sessions like Troy and Alexander, there's respite to be found in short films which have flourished as of late. Once confined to the domain of beatnik film clubs, short film screenings are now sprouting like mushrooms.

Future Shorts now makes it even more accessible with the launch of Late Night Shorts at The Gate tonight. Expect new luxurious velvet armchairs with drinks tables, double love seats at the back and a new lobby area with a fully stocked bar - the delights of which can be sipped in front of award-winning and mind-stretching shorts from the likes of Stephen Scott Hayward and Alex Kirkland.

If that doesn't grab you by the short and curlies, maybe the spellbinding animation of 'Bathtime In Clerkenwell' will. The evening will be a feast for the eyes and soul and there ain't nothing stale about that.