Looking for short film festival recommendations? Kellie Ann Benz to the rescue
Industry Centre > Blogs > Looking for short film festival recommendations? Kellie Ann Benz to the rescue
Posted by Kellie Ann Benz
on Thursday, September 09, 2010.
Categories: Film, Distribution
Canada has a strange relationship with movies.
If you’re in the Canadian film industry you’re surrounded by talent that are all baffled by our struggling industry.
If you’re a tax payer you wonder why your money keeps supporting films you never get to see.
This might be our biggest failure, getting our films to our audience.
Which makes us a nation of prolific short filmmakers. Why?
A feature takes years of development, requires deep funding pockets, movie stars and distributors. Television... well, indigenous television in Canada is a messy can of worms. Our newest export, web series, is just beginning to get legs.
So we make short films here. And lots of them.
As Canada’s festival season – or as I like to called it FESTADA - rolls out its red carpet, I’m starting to notice some programming trends. In an effort to highlight some of the bright talents coming to a festival near you soon, here’s a list and a bit of info on a few of the shorts getting some heavy pick up across the country.
This year alone, the Toronto International Film Festival received 600 Canadian short film submissions. Consider that many festivals across the country receive a similar amount, and you can guess that when a film gets multiple programming nods, it’s a good bet that it’s a solid piece of entertainment.
One film that seems to be standing out more than most is the The Legend of Beaver Dam by Ontario’s Jerome Sable and Eli Batalion. The film opens the midnight madness program at TIFF, screening before the sure-to-be-soldout Fubar II (by NSI grad, Mike Dowse).
In addition to this coveted spot, The Legend of Beaver Dam will compete at the Atlantic Film Festival, Calgary International and Edmonton International.
Following close behind in the realm of popular festival programming are the Canadian Film Centre-produced Champagne by Alberta’s Hans Olson, Green Crayons by prolific short filmmaker Kazik Radwanski, the uber-stylized Junko's Shamisen by Sol Friendman, A Fine Young Man by BC’s Kevan Funk, A.J. Bond’s Madame Perrault's Bluebeard and Quebec’s Theodore Ushev with this popular animated short Lipsett Diaries. The last of which has been picking up awards and special mentions for a while now.
Another title making the rounds is The Camera and Christopher Merk by legendary Canadian cinema spawn Brandon Cronenberg, as well as Nicholas Brault’s haunting The Circus.
Lastly, two completely different films with kick-ass titles are both getting pick-up at a number of festivals: Toronto actress Nadia Litz’s directorial debut, the very dark, very urban-relationship-exploration drama How to Rid Your Lover of a Negative Emotion Caused by You (produced by NSI grad Daniel Bekerman) and Vagina Vacation by BC’s up and coming comedy director Erick Boychuk. Both films are worth your time.
So when scrolling through the online schedule for the festival in your neighbourhood, keep an eye out for these sure bets. Oh, and if you’re a Canadian tax payer and you’re wondering where all your tax paying, film investing money goes, be sure to take in as much Canadian fare as you can at your local festival. It might be the only chance you get to see it.
Happy Festada everyone!
- Kellie
Ann
Benz is a columnist who writes about short film on the
NSI
website and also runs her own blog The Shorts
Report -
NSI on the web
Views expressed here are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).
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The views expressed here are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).