A pair of nattily tailored trousers offers the promise of a life packed with unimaginable riches; the close relationship between truffle-hunter and his pig is torn apart; an irresponsible boyfriend steals a caravan for a surprise holiday for his girlfriend and her daughter; the tense relationship between two powerful men is tested when one of them accidentally runs over a tramp: the ideas that inspire film-makers grow ever more eccentric, as the six finalists in this year’s TCM Classic Shorts Competition demonstrate.

But there’s one thing that unites all short-film makers, however disparate their movies: they all desperately need money to make their next film. But, while most hungry young film-making talents would happily sell their grandmothers to get their latest project under way, the aged relatives of some of the TCM finalists will be able to rest easily for the time being, thanks to the prize money for the top three.

The jury – the directors Lasse Halström, Kevin Macdonald and Paul Andrew Williams, the actors Simon Pegg and Cillian Murphy, as well as myself – have their work cut out, as the quality of this year’s shortlist is as high as ever. What is Williams looking for in the winning short? “Finding someone with an individual voice is the key. For me, the best films focus on the characters rather than an outcome.”

Of the six finalists, two come from outside the UK. Anders Habenicht , who made Signals, is from Sweden. It’s a tight little thriller about a woman placed in grave danger when she answers a call on a mobile phone. Habernicht pays tribute to his leading actress, Sara Edberg. “She made a big effort – she was five months pregnant during the shoot, and we had to hide her belly two months later when we had to do some extra shots.”

The other non-British finalist is from Germany. Hana Tsusami’s Cocoon is an unsettling story of a toddler locked in an apartment with a dead mother and no contact with the outside world.

The British entries are impressively diverse. Duncan Wellaway, whose Always Crashing in the Same Car reunites Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann for the first time since Withnail and I, says: “The most intense night was the car crash. A stuntman dressed as a homeless woman is run over by a Mercedes. After the car hit him he just lay there for what seemed like hours. I was convinced he had popped his clogs. I walked over to where he lay and he opened his eyes and said: ‘Do you want me to do it again?’ I started smoking again that night.”

Tom Tagholm’s short A Bout de Truffe is the tragi-comic tale of the truffle hunter and his pig, who face destitution because of their uselessness when it comes to locating the prized fungus. But even as they uncover a monster truffle tragedy looms . . .

Kris Marshall stars in The Amazing Trousers, a Gothic Edwardian thriller by William F. Clark. He plays a youth who stumbles into a tailor’s shop to shelter from the rain, only to be offered a pair of trousers that will change his life – at a price.

The final film on the shortlist is Perfect to Begin, Richard Lawson’s handsomely photographed domestic drama that explores the neglect of a child when her mother’s feckless new boyfriend drags them away on an unplanned holiday.

The prizewinners will be announced in a ceremony on October 31 that will be held as part of The Times BFI London Film Festival. Then TCM viewers will have the opportunity to judge the finalists for themselves (November 3 and 4 from 11pm). Each film will be introduced by a short interview with its director.

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