REEL CANADA Blog : Tags : Canadian filmmaking

An Inside Look: Worldwide Short Film Festival

by Alison Zemell

North America’s largest short film festival, Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival, took place in Toronto this year from June 5th to10th.  The festival is one of only 4 festivals accredited by the Oscars and has always been an important one for REEL CANADA to attend. 

Short films offer a vehicle to creativity that is unavailable in feature films.  Because they can be made for little cost with a small crew, short films are the place where you can experiment.  Even established filmmakers continue to utilize the short film format.  This year at WSFF, Spike Jonze had a sweet yet funny short animated film in the Date Night program.  Often, new filmmakers use shorts as a stepping stone to feature filmmaking, either to include on a demo reel as a calling card, or to adapt a short into a feature.  I prefer to regard the short as an art form unto itself.  Having to make an audience care about characters and understand a story in a short time is a challenge, but often pays off. 

Young and emerging filmmakers should make it a point to attend the festival’s SHORT FILMS: BIG IDEAS SYMPOSIUM.  This is where you can attend panels, power hours and roundtables with industry professionals who would otherwise be inaccessible, on topics geared directly at short filmmakers.  Our own Artistic Director Sharon Corder sat on the Festivals panel and gave insight into how we choose films for REEL CANADA. REEL CANADA’s advisory member Jean-Marc Vallée taught this year’s master class that many attendees said was inspiring.

Having worked for the festival in the past, this year I facilitated several Q&As after screenings.  I had the opportunity to moderate the discussion with 2 Canadian films in the “Stranger in a Strange Land” program, THE IMMIGRANT (directed by Josh Levy and starring Canadian comedy legend Scott Thompson), and THE CROSSING OF THE LIVING ROOM (directed by Geneviève Albert).  Both filmmakers were charming and funny, and provided insight into shooting on a budget, working with celebrities, and what it’s like for them now living in LA.

My favourite film of the festival was WE REFUSE TO BE COLD by Alexander Carson.  The film is about a couple who creates their own personal survival guide to enduring the long Montreal winter.  The film was beautiful and honest, and evoked a haunting  sense of memory. 

All in all, the festival was a great success.  I am very happy I was able to see so many unique films, listen in on the symposium sessions, and meet wonderfully artistic and friendly filmmakers.  I can’t wait until next year.

Students at Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute

On Tuesday May 8^th, REEL CANADA arrived at Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute to find a super cool DJ playing hot tunes in the cafeteria as a group of kids busily tested a Skype connection.

Soon enough, nearly 250 ESL students descended upon the cafeteria and sat attentively as REEL CANADA’s facilitator, Judith Cockman, explained to them what they were about to see. Judith talked about the films, about the program, and about what she wanted them to look out for so that they could have a discussion afterwards.

Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute student DJ 

We’d been warned by our lead teacher that the ESL students were a pretty shy, quiet bunch, so Judith was trying extra hard to prepare them for sharing their thoughts after the screening.

The short CHILI & CHEESE got quite a few knowing laughs from the audience. The film is about a humorous altercation between a convenience store owner (who used to be a doctor in his home country) and a particularly cheeky customer.

Afterwards, the students watched DOUBLE HAPPINESS, Mina Shum’s film about a young woman trying to juggle her Canadian identity with her family’s traditional Chinese heritage. Albert Campbell has a very large population of ESL students of Chinese origin, most of whom found the film very funny and probably pretty familiar. They definitely caught all the Cantonese jokes that the rest of us may have missed!

Canadian filmmaker Mina Shum answers questions via Skype about her film Double Happiness

After the film, we connected to director Mina Shum in Vancouver via Skype, and gave the students a chance to talk with her and ask questions. In spite of the teacher’s warnings that nobody was likely to say a word during the Q&A, at least seven or eight brave souls spoke into the microphone (much to the shock and delight of the staff who were in the room with us).

REEL CANADA exposes young people to Canadian culture, and brings shy kids out of their shells! Go team.