How to Be Alone (2009 film)

{{short description|2009 Canadian film directed by Andrea Dorfman}}

{{Infobox film

| name = How to Be Alone

| image =

| caption = Film poster

| director = Andrea Dorfman

| producer = Andrea Dorfman
Walter Forsyth

| writer = Tanya Davis

| narrator = Tanya Davis

| music = Tanya Davis

| animator = Andrea Dorfman

| studio = Gorgeous Mistake Productions

| distributor =

| runtime = 5 minutes

| released = {{Film date|2009|10|6|VIFF}}

| country = Canada

| language = English

| budget =

}}

How to Be Alone is a Canadian short film, directed by Andrea Dorfman and released in 2009."Canadian short film goes viral: More than a million watch How to Be Alone on YouTube website". Toronto Star, August 24, 2010. The film animates a spoken word piece by poet Tanya Davis about things that a person can do on their own after the breakup of a relationship.Carsten Knox, "Poet Tanya Davis, YouTube hit, video muse". The Globe and Mail, September 18, 2010.

The film premiered on October 6, 2009, at the Vancouver International Film Festival, and was subsequently broadcast on Bravo's Bravo!FACT Presents short film anthology series."This Week: Highlights". The Globe and Mail, October 9, 2009. In 2010 Dorfman uploaded the film to YouTube, where it quickly went viral, attracting over a million views in a matter of a few weeks.Simon Owens, [https://thenextweb.com/news/how-andrea-dorfman-learned-to-be-alone-and-earn-herself-a-million-views-on-youtube "How Andrea Dorfman learned to be alone and earned herself a million views on YouTube"]. The Next Web, August 19, 2010.

In 2013 Davis released a book edition of the poem, with illustrations by Dorfman.Natalie Sequeira, [https://quillandquire.com/book-culture/2013/12/02/how-tanya-davis-and-andrea-dorfmans-viral-video-landed-a-book-deal/ "How Tanya Davis and Andrea Dorfman’s viral video landed a book deal"]. Quill & Quire, December 2, 2013.

In 2020, Dorfman and Davis released the sequel film How to Be At Home, animating another spoken word piece about coping with isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of the National Film Board of Canada's The Curve series.Dave McGinn, [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/article-why-the-nfbs-breakout-short-film-how-to-be-at-home-leans-into/ "Why the NFB’s breakout short film How to Be at Home leans into loneliness"]. The Globe and Mail, October 19, 2020.