Great idea to focus on shorts. Too many times they are ruefully neglected. There are some good short film festivals in Germany, and sometimes shorts got screened on German TV. So I've seen at least a few hundred, though I still need to catch up with a lot. But I'm very fond of a lot of shorts, and some of the ones on my list, would also appear on my overall 100 Best Films, if I would compile it today. 

I'll try my own list (seen 20 from yours), and I'll adapt your "star system". 

PS: I'm very fond of Starewicz, and I think "Town Rat, Country Rat" is one of his best films. Didn't include it, because I need to rewatch a lot of his work. I'd also love to see some Pelechian, and I need to rewatch a lot of shorts. For example, I believe that some of Dave Fleischer's Superman shorts might become some of my favorite films, though I didn't like them when I watched them the last time. And of course there's Disney, and Warner Brothers, and all of the other American companies that have made some great stuff. 

1895 La sortie des usines Lumière "Leaving the Lumiere Factory" (Louis Lumiere / France) 

1901 Barbe bleu "Bluebeard" (Georges Méliès / France) 
1909 A Corner in Wheat (David Wark Griffith / USA) 

1910 Mobilier fidèle "The Automatic Moving Company" (Èmile Cohl / France) * 
The unchanging Sea (David Wark Griffith / USA) 

1915 The Escape on the Fast Freight (J.P. McGowan / USA) 
Liliya Belgii "The Lily of Belgium" (Wladyslaw Starewicz / Russia) 

1916 The Count (Charles Chaplin / USA) 

1918 Shoulder Arms (Charles Chaplin / USA) ** 

1921 Be my Wife [fragment: 13 min.] (Max Linder / USA) 

1922 The Electric House (Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton / USA) 

1928 Un Chien Andalou (Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali / France) *** 

1930 Bezucelná procházka "Aimless Walk" (Alexander Hammid / Czechoslovakia) 
Le sang d'un poète "The Blood of a Poet" (Jean Cocteau / France) 

1931 Na Prazském hrade "The Prague Castle" (Alexander Hammid / Czechoslovakia) 

1933 Zéro de conduite "Zero for Conduct" (Jean Vigo / France) 

1935 Listopad (Otakar Vávra / Czechoslovakia) 

1938 Mickey's Trailer (Ben Sharpsteen / USA) 

1939 Donald's Cousin Gus (Jack King / USA) 

1943 Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid / USA) 

1947 L'école des facteurs "School for Postmen" (Jacques Tati / France) 

1950 Un chant d'amour "A Song of Love" (Jean Genet / France) 

1962 La Jetée "The Pier" (Chris Marker / France) ** 
Antoine et Colette "Antoine and Colette" (Francois Truffaut / France) 

1964 Les Mistons "The Brats" (Francois Truffaut / France) 

1965 Hakob Hovnatanyan (Sergei Parajanov / Soviet Union) *** 
Harold Stevenson No.1 and No.2 (Danny Williams / USA) 
Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasia G-moll "Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasia in G Minor" (Jan Svankmajer / Czechoslovakia) 
Now (Santiago Álvarez / Cuba) 

1966 Charlie Brown's All Stars (Bill Melendez / USA) 
Le père Noël a les yeux bleus "Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes" (Jean Eustache / France) 

1968 Byt "The Flat" (Jan Svankmajer / Czechoslovakia) 

1969 Ich nicht (Wolfgang Petersen / West Germany) 

1970 Gratinirani mozak Pupilije Ferkeverk (Karpo Acimovic Godina / Yugoslavia) 

1971 Zvahlav aneb Saticky Slameného Huberta "Jabberwocky" (Jan Svankmajer / Czechoslovakia) 

1973 The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (Herzog) 

1974 El reino de los Mochicas (Luis Figueroa / Peru) 

1975 Meikyu-tan (Shuji Terayama / Japan) * 

1976 La Soufrière (Werner Herzog / West Germany) 

1977 Issunbushi o kijutsu suru kokoromi (Shuji Terayama / Japan) * 
Kage no eiga - nito onna (Shuji Terayama / Japan) * 
Keshigomu (Shuji Terayama / Japan) * 
Maldoror no uta (Shuji Terayama / Japan) * 
Shoken-ki (Shuji Terayama / Japan) * 

1979 Skazka skazok "Tale of Tales" (Yuriy Norshteyn / Soviet Union) 

1982 Moznosti dialogu "Dimensions of Dialogue" (Jan Svankmajer / Czechoslovakia) ** 
Vincent (Tim Burton / USA) 

1984 Frankenweenie (Tim Burton / USA) 

1985 Die Anprobe (1938) (1985 / West Germany) 

1986 Night Music (Stan Brakhage / USA) 

1988 Feet of Song (Erica Russell / UK) 

1990 The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia (Jan Svankmajer / UK) * 

1992 The Bitches (Richard Kern / USA) 

1993 Wallace and Gromit in The Wrong Trousers (Nick Park / UK) * 
Uchiage hanabi, shita kara Miruka? Yoko kara Miruka? "Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?" (Shunji Iwai / Japan) 

1995 Der Kaktus (Franz Wintsenzen / Germany) 
Wallace and Gromit in A Close Shave (Nick Park / UK) 

1996 Human Behavioural Case Studies, Part One (Adam Benjamin Elliot / Australia) * 
Uncle (Adam Benjamin Elliot / Australia) 
Une robe d'été "A Summer Dress" (François Ozon / France) 

1998 Alone. Life Wastes Andy Hardy (Martin Arnold / Austria) 
Cousin (Adam Benjamin Elliot / Australia) 

1999 Brother (Adam Benjamin Elliot / Australia) 

2000 Blood: The Last Vampire (Hiroyuki Kitakubo / Japan) 
Soins et beauté (Alejandra Rojo / France) 
The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin / Canada) 

2001 Tu vois (François Ruiz / France) * 
Eat (Bill Plympton / USA) 
Freunde "The Whiz Kids" (Jan Krüger,Oliver Schwabe / Germany) 

2002 About Time 2 (Mike Figgis / USA) 
Dans le noir du temps (Jean-Luc Godard / France) 
- segment "USA" from 11'09'01 - September 11 (Sean Penn / USA) 
- segment "Japan" from 11'09'01 - September 11 (Shohei Imamura / Japan) 

2004 Nicht ohne Risiko (Harun Farocki / Germany) 
Visul lui Liviu "Liviu's Dream" (Corneliu Porumboiu / Romania) 

2005 ...Es wird jemand kommen, der ja zu mir sagt "Ruth" (Michael Blume / Germany) * 
Amour neutre "Love neutral" (Pierre Coulibeuf / France) * 
Jane's Birthday Trip (Etienne Kallos / USA) 

2007 Hotel Chevalier (Wes Anderson / USA)