Haydain Neale, 1970–2009
Transit City and Transit Cities
Peeve Patrol
Newsstand: November 23, 2009
The Making of a Medley
The Worldwide Short Film Festival has two things perpetually working against it. One, any feature-length program of short films, in any context, is almost necessarily going to be a mixed bag; there will be one or two works of sustained brilliance, two or three self-satisfied efforts that try your patience despite their limited lengths, and then a handful of other interesting but mostly unremarkable entries. Two, the WSFF—this year running June 16–21—always comes at the end of Toronto's busy spring festival season, following Images (early April), Sprockets (mid-April), Toronto Jewish (late April), Hot Docs (early May), and Inside Out (mid-May); it's sometimes received as an afterthought in the scheme of things.
But the WSFF programmers are acutely aware of these challenges and do their best to make the festival friendly and accessible. They know you know you're taking a leap of faith by buying a ticket, and they do their damndest to load up the event with as many sure things as possible: the usual twin Midnight Mania programs ("Creepy" and "Freaky"), as well as the Scene Not Herd evening of music videos, the Slap 'n' Tickle sex-themed shorts, the Sci-Fi: "Out There" pack, and a series of Accidentally Funny vintage films, this year with the theme "Holiday in the Sun." The truly great stuff, however, tends to find its way into the twelve competition programs of the Official Selection, which forms the bulk of the festival, showcasing new Canadian and international fiction, documentary, animated, and avant-garde shorts, grouped by (loose) theme rather than genre.
Still from Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death courtesy of the WSFF.
Few things in world cinema are better bets, however, than Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (OS1 and the Shorts for Shorties children's program), the duo's first new mid-length (twenty-nine-minute) movie since 1995's Shaun-the-Sheep-introducing A Close Shave. As an animation studio, Aardman is the British Pixar, and thus each new work of theirs is to be celebrated accordingly.
Tickets are on sale now.
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Some other films of note that I didn't get to work into my post:
• The Water (Official Selection 7): The "world premiere" of Kevin Drew's directorial debut, starring Cillian Murphy and Leslie Feist, which we've written about before and which has already been available on the web.
• Nutkin's Last Stand (Official Selection 9): "England's fight to save the beloved indigenous red squirrel from an invasion of American grey squirrels reveals racism, xenophobia, and population control that go beyond the animal kingdom. A quirky, ironic, and rather horrifying short documentary."
• Mansion on the Hill (8): "Carefree suburban kids on skateboards are juxtaposed against sickening infant mortality statistics." Made by Gus van Sant, as part of a series of films addressing the United Nations' eight Millennium Development Goals; this one tackles "Reduce child mortality."
• I Knew It Was You (Picture Is Up!): A 40-minute doc on John Cazale, who had roles in only five films before succumbing to bone cancer in 1978. The thing is, those movies were: The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather: Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Deer Hunter. (He played Fredo.)
OMG I AM SO EXCITED *shrieks*
I disagree about the leap of faith. I consider it a much greater leap to blow $16 on a 110-minute film at TIFF, for example, not knowing if your feature will be an exercise in athletic fingernail-biting and restrained yawning that ends up at Queen Video six months later, than to spend $10 on an array of rare little films, some which will be gems. It's like tapas. Or a buffet. It's perfect for people like me who hate more films than they like. Also, you get to feel that little "my feature is starting!" anticipatory rush like 8 times per screening. Not to mention the invaluable "applauding at the right time" practice.
I agree with montauk, the beauty of the Short Film Fest is that even if a short is terrible, it will be over soon. There are more hits than misses in the program.
And other than TIFF, it's my favourite film festival in the city.