While on vacation, a high-time thief spots a 1000 year-old birchbark canoe where he sets out a plan to do one more heist before he retires and while doing so stumbles across an asian group who will stop at nothing to protect the priceless artifact.

Short or feature, a film still needs a plot and a plot needs a goal. In a short you can use a 1, 2 or 3 act structure, the format allows you to consolidate the story into fewer sequences but the forward momentum of a plot will still drive the story regardless its structure.

You imply that the goal is to take the canoe, but it’s best to specify this and even better if you can clearly describe the motivation. Could the canoe have belonged to his ancestors and is currently being used as a humiliating tourist trap? Just a though.