SHORT movies usually get short shrift at moviehouses.
One welcome exception is the PS 2001 Phat Shorts Film Exhibition, unreeling tomorrow and the following two Mondays at Anthology Film Archives (Second Avenue and Second Street).
Some of the entries involve people you probably have heard of.
David Cronenberg, for example, directs “Camera,” in which a cranky actor (Les Carlson) ruminates about getting old. (“I dreamt I was watching a movie in a cinema with an audience. And suddenly I realized I was aging rapidly, growing horribly old as I sat there.”) Cronenberg shot it to mark the 25th anniversary of the Toronto Film Festival last year.
And Frances MacDormand appears as a paranoid wife and mother in Itamar Kovouly’s “Upheaval.” It’s based on a Chekhov story, updated to present-day Manhattan.
But most of the films in the Phat fest are the work of talented but unknown artists.
We were especially impressed with Scott Coffey’s “Ellie Parker.” It follows the title character, a struggling young actress played by Naomi Watts, as she tries out for two roles, changing outfits as she speeds across town in her car.
Other shorts include Elise Couvion’s “Sweet,” a wordless fantasy set to Tchaikovsky, and Frazer Bradshaw’s “Every Day Here,” a portrait of a battling couple.
Showtime each Monday is 8 p.m. Admission is $7. For more, check out http://www.phatshortsfestival.com
* The weather in Finland may be frigid, but movies from that country are often hot and steamy.
Take “The Restless,” a sex-and-nudity-filled number that unspools Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Scandinavia House (58 Park Ave., at 37th Street).
A box-office success in Finland, Aki Louhimies’ feature directorial debut tells of a hunky, womanizing doctor who finally gets his comeuppance.
“The Restless” is part of a series called “Far Out: Recent Films From Finland,” programmed by Jytte Jensen.
Other movies in the program screen April 18, 21 and 25. Info: (212) 779-3587.
* Threatened with the dreaded NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, Lars Von Trier was forced to put black boxes over all male genitalia in “The Idiots” when it played here last year.
Never mind that the Danish director was allowed to let it all hang out in Europe, with no noticeable decline in public morals.
Anyway, the uncensored version of “The Idiots” gets its New York debut Thursday and Friday at BAM Rose Cinemas (Lafayette Avenue, off Flatbush Avenue, in Brooklyn).
For those who don’t remember, the film follows a bunch of wacky Danes who get their kicks pretending to be, well, idiots.
The Post’s Jonathan Foreman gave the flick just half a star in his review last year. Cine File would have been more generous.
V.A. Musetto is film editor of ThePost. He can be e-mailed atvam@nypost.com