Results tagged “worldwideshortfilmfestival”

Urban Planner is Torontoist's daily guide to what's on in Toronto, published every morning. If you have an event you'd like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you've got any—to events@torontoist.com.

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.

The Worldwide Short Film Festival opened last night so it's too late to call this a preview, but we wanted to make sure we'd seen as many of the programmes we could manage before we offered you any opinions on what to go and see (and what to avoid). After the jump, previews of official selections Crime & Punishment and Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me; Japanese spotlight Genius Party; Celebrity Shorts; and Sci Fi: Out There. Pictured above: Baby Blue, which plays as part of the Japanese spotlight, Genius Party.

We love The Patterns Trilogy. If we had more parties at our apartment, we’d have it running on our television or projected onto a wall, looping endlessly. Well, if we could be sure it wouldn’t hypnotize our guests (and ourselves) into a sublime stupefaction. Therefore, Trilogy of Trilogies, one of tonight’s Worldwide Short Film Festival programmes (playing at 7:15 p.m. at the Cumberland), which features The Patterns Trilogy along with The Saskatchewan Trilogy, is our specially designated hot ticket of the week. It’s a ticket so hot, if you put it in your trouser pocket, it would set your trousers on fire and you’d get really bad burns on your legs.

The Worldwide Short Film Festival opened last night and runs until Sunday, and staffers Ken Hunt and Jonathan Goldsbie have taken a look at some of this year’s offerings. Jonathan gives his take on Official Selection 9: Fashion Victims and Ken gives his on Slap N’ Tickle and the Midnight Mania programme after the jump.

Recently, Torontoist has probably been playing too many videogames. Not that that’s a problem, per se, but when you’ve become such an adrenaline junkie that you’re absent-mindedly tapping a non-existent "A" button to get past this bothersomely long “cut-scene” you’ve been watching only to remember that you’re actually watching The Omen, you have to admit that you’ve probably got a problem, and should probably cool off with some of Pedro Costa's longest films, showing at Cinematheque Ontario this week.

Last night, at The Worldwide Short Film Festival, Torontoist was lucky enough to catch Scene not Herd, a collection of 16 music videos assembled by journalist Sandy Hunter. Both the music and the quality and uniqueness of the submissions was absolutely incredible. There were a few big names (Sigur Ros, Bright Eyes, The Go! Team, Death From Above 1979, Ladytron, and The Darkness), but plenty of lesser-known gems as well - just the right mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar.

Oh man! This week’s big news in films comes from a crazy place called Vancouver??? We know! Torontoist have never heard of it either, but apparently it’s in Canada! Wild! So anyway, it’s clearly going to be an exciting place to be come September, as the famous for being terrible German director Uwe Boll wants to have a fight with YOU. Yes, you! As long as in the year of 2005 you’ve written two articles insulting him (and you’re in-shape, male and weigh between 64 and 86 kilograms) you can, apparently, fight him in a boxing ring as an extra in his big screen remake of Postal, the rubbish and intentionally controversial shoot-em-up from Running with Scissors.

Now this Torontoist isn't big on movies. For me, they have to have a point and be pretty good... and doesn't qualify as either. Short films, on the other hand, get to the point. It's all in the editing... a craft Hollywood has lost long ago.

When a movie festival runs for five days and shows over 230 films, calling it 'short' seems a little misleading. But the organizers of the World Wide Short Film Festival have decided to go ahead and use the 'short' qualifer to describe the bigtime, 11-years and counting event. Starting tonight until this Sunday, June 14-19, films like Taika Waititi's "Sons of War," Craig Goodwill's "My Own Revolution," Jeff Moneo's "Plastic Bitch," Monica Rho's "Stationary," Brian Stockton's "All the Teachers I Have Known," and Michael White's "Branding Mupatu" are the highlights. And as anyone can guess from that cut-and-paste job, the only film we recognize here is Chris Landreth's now famous Academy-Award winning "Ryan." But you can find out more by buying tickets at venues Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor St W), Isabel Bader Theatre (93 Charles St W), Innis Town Hall (2 Sussex Ave), and Emmanuel College (Queen's Park Circle). Or online here.