LUCIDMEDIA

WWSFF Coverage

Written by Sebastian Frye Wednesday, 17 June 2009 18:46

Short films are important because they provide perceptual re-wiring. This may come in the form of a short-circuit, a disorientation of sorts, or it may come as a surge of electricity, in the form of bursts of laughter for example, but in an instant a short film can change our mental hardwiring and allow us to see things a little differently.

Now, in the 21st century, the short clip, film, movie, and snippit is a ubiquitous medium. Global culture essentially suffers from attention deficit disorder, what with cell phones springing open at every text message sent, instant-messengers and twitters squaking with every impulse, and films and videos competing for attention by arresting the senses at every plot-point. Our minds just can't remain concentrated for more than seven minutes, not to even speak of our bodies unable to remain seated unless hypnotized by a glowing screen. It would seem the way of the future isn't 'bigger', it's 'shorter'.

Which is why, more than ever, we need events such as the Worldwide Short Film Festival. For it's 15th year the CFC (Canadian Film Centre) is bringing the best short films from around the world together for a six-day long festival with all day screenings and symposiums. For film-makers and film-goers alike, the WWSFF is a one of a kind event taking place in Toronto, and is now being recognized as one of the best of it's sort, worldwide. And it's no wonder, with 3, 900 submitted films, only two-hundred-ninety made the cut and only one-hundred-three (to my count) are considered for the top jury prizes being judged by such luminaries as France Television Group's Short Film Department director Roland Nguyen, and branding guru Karol Martesko-Fenster. What does this mean? That what flickers before you on the screen has been filtered - and three-times purified - for the best in quality.

On Tuesday evening I had the pleasure to attend the opening gala and first screening for the festival. The Secret Life of Beards by Melanie Levy was a quirky six-minute documentary about men and the reasons for their beards - a kind of curiosity study by this young female film-maker - while Gone Fishing was a funny and unusually touching story about an old man, a young boy, and the fishing story of a lifetime. Coffee and Allah by New Zealander Sima Urale was an understated story about one women's displacement into a culture which doesn't necessarily understand her, but is willing to embrace her warmly.

However, My favorites of the evening were two french films - one produced in Quebec, the other in France.

With very little spoken dialogue, but startling imagery, Next Floor by Denis Villeneuve from Quebec was the first film of the evening. It tells the anecdote, rather than the story, of a table of gluttonous well-to-do men and women brought platter after platter of golden chicken thighs, hog's heads, venison, rhinocerous, boar, deer, and aardvark which they eat until they drop through the planks to the floor below - again, and again, and again - all the while followed by the chefs and waiters feeding them. There was something dark and wry about this short piece. With subtle undertones of commentary, the film humorously questioned greed and integrity.

The second little film was the fourteen minute animated Skhizen by Jeremy Clapin. With a simple, weirdly outrageous, plot ("After being hit by a 150-ton meteorite, poor Henri is feeling a bit off: 91
centimetres off, to be precise") this little gem displaces the viewer into questioning one's own self as one reflects on Henri and his ordeal. Applause was hesitant as the film left the audience wondering just what happened; we were all laughing uproariously, then next-thing-you-know we are pondering Henri and his bleak undoing. "Skhizen" may have been weird, unquestionably funny, and disturbing, but it surprised the audience and provided a reason for pause.

If you liked the sounds of those films, here's some quick picks of my own which you shouldn't miss if you want to see high quality short films deserving your short attention span. (There is simply so many interesting films I have selected my choices based on the themed screenings.):


The Edge of Reason, 90 mins
Wednesday June 17th @ 2:00 pm
& Friday June 19th @ 7:00 pm
Cumberland Cinema

The Spine
Chris Landreth

You might remember Mr. Landreth from a provocative Oscar winning short film hit which chronicled the then little-known life of NFB phenom Ryan Larkin. The animation in Landreth's 2004 Ryan, and his earlier films The End and Bingo, has a surreal quality which is hard to forget. His films deal with serious issues and the encroaching possibility of one's own life unravelling like a spool of yarn. His new film The Spine is having its North American Premiere at the festival, and it should promise to be quite the event. The story is about "codependency that turns lovers into strangers" and is voiced by Gordon Pinsent and Alberta Watson.

Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death
Nick Park

Now a staple to festival circuits around the world, the unmistakable art of Nick Park is never something one should pass up. Now that Park has several full length feature films under his belt, it will be interesting to see how he tackles the short film format again. Already the winner for Best Animated Short Subject at 2009's Annie Awards, and the winner of the BAFTA award for Best Short Animation, this new Wallace and Gromit promises to meet the standards of Park's past work. With an outrageous plot (a serial killer is targeting every pastry maker in town, but Wallace is too in love to notice, and so Gromit needs to take over the shop), brought to life with the world's finest stop-motion, what more could one ask for?


[for more info about The Edge of Reason, click here]


You Can't Take It With You, 86 mins
Wednesday June 17 @ 4:30 pm
& Saturday June 20th @ 2:30 pm
ROM (Royal Ontario Museum)

Danse Macabre
Pedro Pires

The films in this series appear to be so unusual, whimsical, and perverse they will undoubtedly prove enjoyable. Danse Macabre, a Canadian experimental film about a body becoming animated in the final throes of death, describes, poetically through movement, the urgency of life and the inevitability of death.

The Way It Used To Be
Sarah Lazarovic

I am just curious to see what Lazarovic does with the absurdity of this scenario. Whether it is crushing or touching, I am expecting a very humorous seven minutes in which a recently deceased elderly woman decides who she'll spend the rest of her afterlife with: her first or second husband.





The Archive
Sean Dunne

Collecting can be a selfish practice, an indulgent practice, even an futile practice that leads nowhere. For diabetic and nearly blind record collector Paul Mawhinney the truth of his habit might be the most painful thing he has to endure. This film looks like a gem. Being an avid collector of obscure things myself, I know how important it is, perhaps for culture at large, for each of us to maintain our own personal museums. I'm cheering for this man, his collection, and this eight minute documentary.

Photograph of Jesus
Laurie Hill

A less painful look at an archivist, Photograph of Jesus is a film relating the stories of the strangest requests an archivist has received. The hook is that someone requested "photographic proof of Jesus", but I can only imagine what other weird treasures this archivist has buried.



[for more info about You Can't Take It With You, click here]