TIFF 2011 : SHORT CUTS CANADA LlNEUP

Toronto, August 9, 2011 [CTVM.info] — The Toronto International Film Festival rolls out a powerful slate of 43 short films in this year’s Short Cuts Canada programme. This edectic lineup spans a breadth of diverse themes, presented in six dynamic programmes and two pre-feature selections. Showcasing the styles of new and returning directors, the roster encompasses works from filmmakers representing eight provinces across Canada.

4am Janine Fung, ON, 4’ North American Premiere
  Spoken-word poet Muhammad Muwakil conveys a powerful portrait of life in a suburb of Port of Spain, Trinidad, against peaceful pre-dawn images of a city at peace.

Afternoon Tea DJ Parmar, BC, 13’ World Premiere
  An Indian grandfather’s life changes when a seemingly lost boy comes to his home and asks to use his phone. He is unaware that this boy is not who he appears to be, and holds a secret that will change him forever.

Combustion Renaud Hallée, QC, 4’ World Premiere
  Combustion plunges the viewer, from each image and note to the next, doser and doser to its materials as they catch fire and culminate in an explosion of colours and sounds. Carried along bya scorching musical score, Combustion is a brisk and novellook at fire - a source of fascination for everyone everywhere since the beginning of time.

Derailments (Deragliamenti) Chelsea McMullan, BC, 11’ World Premiere
  Originally written by Federico Fellini as a film, 1/ Viaggio di Mastorna Detto Fernet was coined ’the most famous film never made.’ There is mystery surrounding Fellini’s decision to abandon the project right before production. At 72, he began collaborating with celebrated iIIustrator Milo Manara, and together they started to sketch Fellini’s vision of the afterlife in comic format. In this short meditative documentary, Manara remembers their journey together into the hereafter.

The Devil’s Due Alexander Gorelick and Adam Shaheen, ON, 5’ World Premiere
  A curious package unleashes a bizarre and beautiful symphony of chaos on an unsuspecting world - but is it a gift or a curse ?

Doubles with Slight Pepper lan Harnarine, ON, 16’ World Premiere
  ln rural Trinidad, Dhani struggles to support himself and his mother by selling doubles (Trinidad’s quintessential street food). When his estranged father unexpectedly returns from Canada, Dhani must decide if he will help save his father’s life despite their strained relationship.

The Encounter Nicholas Pye, ON, 7’ World Premiere
  Set in a small room, an adolescent woman experiences synaesthesia. While she stares at half-filled glasses on the table, her vision transforms into a beautiful song. Harmonie tones induce a hypnotic state over the woman. The meditative harmonies are disrupted when an ominous character arrives with the intent to ingest her song. After consuming the beauty, the dark character leaves. Left alone, the woman employs thaumaturgy to lure her song back to life.

A Film Portrait on Reconstructing 12 Possibilities that Preceded the Disappearance of Zoe Dean Drum World Eduardo Menz, QC, 11’ , Premiere
  A one-of-a-kind cinematic mystery reveals meticulously-created scenes that provide subtle hints about the abduction of its central (and noticeably absent) title character.

The Fuse : Or How 1 Burned Simon Bolivar Igor Drljaca, ON, 9’ World Premiere
  It is March 1992 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. A 9-year-old boy anticipates a poor grade on his latest art assignment, and desperate to avoid the situation, he wishes for something that will allow him to miss school.

Good Boy Isaac Cravit, ON, 5’ World Premiere
  During a day at the beach, Harry, the family dog, struggles to reconcile feelings of jealousy towards his owner’s new baby.

Heart of Rhyme Cory Bowles, NS, 16’ World Premiere
  When Saxton received a heart transplant, he knew there would be side effects until his recovery was complete. What he didn’t expect was the sudden urge to tag his name on mailboxes, drop rhymes in the park, and the ability to witness rhythm come alive around him. When he decides to solve the mystery behind this phenomenon, he discovers a whole new meaning to following your heart.

Hidden Driveway Sarah Goodman, ON, 5’ World Premiere
  Two brothers sitting on a park bench in mid-winter receive a cali from their mom, who unexpectedly announces a family meeting. As the boys walk towards home, they argue about what could possibly be wrong with their parents, each trying to hide their increasing anxiety from the other.

Hope Pedro Pires, QC, 10’ World Premiere
  Fragmented violence of war seen through the eyes of a general on his deathbed. His mind, accustomed to a life on the battlefield, surrenders to a stream of consciousness, mixing death, brutality and one last gesture of hope. The film is based on the awardwinning play, Jimmy, créature de rêve by Marie Brassard.

If I Can Fly Yoakim Bélanger, QC, 10’ International Premiere
  A huddled man awakens, animates and deploys himself in this dance piece. It’s a trip to the center of oneself ; an exploration and personal confrontation of facing fears, emotions and the quest for achievement. A hybrid film realized using photo sequences, textures and traditional video.

Issues Enrico Colantoni, ON, 6’ World Premiere
  An entertainer at the top of his career, Bobby struggles with his public life. In a session with his psychiatrist, Dr. Mann, it becomes clear that traditional therapy isn’t working. When the doctor employs a simple childhood game, he helps Bobby embrace his true, twisted self. Starring Hugh Dillon.

Lie Down and Die Kyle Sanderson, ON, 7’, World Premiere
  Seth’s family is cursed, with each member suffering increasingly tragic and unfortunate deaths. He’s next.

Little Theatres : Homage to the Mineral of Cabbage Stephanie Dudley, ON, 5’ North American Premiere
  The theatre is usually a place where larger-than-life stories are explored. This film looks between the tiny cracks, for the beauty and subtleties that often go unnoticed. This is a film about cabbage : a simple vegetable, with man y layers.

Mandeep Darrin Klimek, ON, 6’ World Premiere
  This is the story of Mandeep Sanghera, a 23-year-old man who lives with severe Tourette’s syndrome and other behavioural disorders that make everyday tasks challenging. Adding another level of complexity, he takes five types of medication to help him focus. This portrait of Mandeep’s life explores how he deals with and overcomes these obstacles, often with humour and a lust for life.

No Words Came Down Ryan Flowers and Lisa Pham, BC, 23’ World Premiere
  Thomas gets set up on a blind date with Mary, an older woman. Despite their awkwardness, these two lonely individuals find a way to continue on with a quiet evening together.

Of events (D’aléas) Mathieu Tremblay, QC, 9’ World Premiere
  Following the sustained rhythm of what is claimed as circumstance, the boundaries between a woman, a man, a child, an old man, a destination and a set of diffused memories and desires slowly fade away.

One Night With Vou (Une nuit avec toi) Jeanne Leblanc, QC, 13’ World Premiere
  Samuel has been fat since childhood. However, at age 23 his fantasies turned to the pretty, thin girls. Faced with the indifference of his inaccessible desires, Samuel is crushed by his insecure and immature reality when he tries to fall back on Emily, a young woman in the same situation as him.

Ora Philippe Baylaucq, QC, 15’ World Premiere
  The worlds of choreographer José Navas and filmmaker Philippe Baylaucq collide to create the first film to use 3D-thermal imaging. Ora spotlights six dancers with luminous bodies, exploring a world marked by the heat they produce. The film showcases neverbefore-seen images in a dance allegory that draws the viewer into the heart of the shifting space the dancers inhabit.

The Paris Quintet in Practice Makes Perfect Benjamin Schuetze, BC, 11’ World Premiere
  Five men live in a one-room apartment wearing identical suits. They are a well-oiled machine, perfectly synchronized in their morning routine. Ali of this in preparation for their work : sitting around a typewriter creating a fantasy account of an afternoon in Paris with the woman of their dreams ... but they are a long way from Paris.

Patch Town Craig Goodwill, ON, 28’ World Premiere
  Told as a Russian fable, Patch Town is a story about what parents tell their children when asked : ’Where do babies come from ?’ This satirical comedy-meets-musical clashes Russian folklore and Soviet-style oppression with western-style consumerism, and a culture of discarded love. Starring Lisa Ray.

Pathways Dusty Mancinelli, ON, 12’ World Premiere
  A little boy is forced to defend himself when he stumbles upon an unconscious man in a forest with a gun and a briefcase.

The Pedestrian Jar Evan Morgan, ON, 4’ World Premiere
  A short mock-doc about an office of co-workers who come up with their own solution to pedestrian-related driving accidents in the city : every time you hit someone on the way to work, you have to put a quarter in the jar.

The Red Virgin Sheila Pye, ON, 17’ World Premiere
  ln 1933, political activist and champion for sexual freedom Aurora Rodriguez killed her utopian ’project’ and brilliant young daughter Hildegart. Selectively bred and educated by Aurora to become the world’s first truly free woman to lead humanity into a new era, Aurora couldn’t bear finding out that Hildegart wanted independence, rather than following the fate her mother systematically raised her to follow. On the surface, Hildegart’s strength and confidence was unbreakable ; she published books and essays about taboo subjects and sexual topics, gained power as the leader of the young socialist party, and started the World League for Sexual Reform in Spain. This is a film about the human propensity to kill the thing that it loves the most.

A River in the Woods Christian Sparkes, NL, 12’, Toronto Premiere
  A fable about a group of ferai children that befriend a monster they find in the woods.

La Ronde Sophie Goyette, QC, 23’ North American Premiere
  Come nightfall Ariane leaves her sleepy suburb, driven by a longing to wake up elsewhere - anywhere but there. From one unusual tableau to the next her quest becomes a moving pilgrimage, offering a singular meditation on leaving, loss and night’s power of abstraction.

Solar Wind (Vent solaire) lan Lagarde, QC, 18’ World Premiere
  During the last days before a mass suicide of an isolated cult, Michel prepares for the ultimate transfer. Along with Louise, a codisciple, he goes to the local department store to buy the cult’s uniforms : black jogging pants and running shoes. The movements are simple, but the body struggles to follow.

Sorry, Rabbi Mark Slutsky, QC, 10’ World Premiere
  Surrounded by angry Hassids, Josh is astonished to find himself accused of anti-Semitic violence. He’s Jewish himself, if nonpracticing - what would his mother think ? With a bleeding Hassid, an exasperated rabbi, and Josh’s newly-broken heart jostling for space in the crowded office, who’s telling the truth ? Starring Jacob Tierney.

Spirit of the Bluebird Xstine Cook and Jesse Gouchey, AB, 6’ Canadian Premiere
  Using spray paint on a garage where Aboriginal woman Gloria Black Plume was brutally murdered in 1999, Cree artist Jesse Gouchey paints a large-scale animation of a bluebird in flight.

Sundays (Les dimanches) Jean-Guillaume Bastien, QC, 14’ World Premiere
  ln the small town of Bas-Saint-Laurent, Quebec, three short stories unfold in the surreal atmosphere of a Sunday. An imaginative boy and his sister play inside their house, a Colombian priest faces his new community while giving an uneasy mass, and a teenager falls into the reality of work.

Surveillant Yan Giroux, QC, 17’ World Premiere
  It’s another quiet summer day in Parc Dufresne. The neighbourhood teens loiter about until a young park monitor arrives for his first day of work. Tension rises as the two worlds clash in an unbalanced territorial struggle. In this impressionistic film, the banal day-today rituals of a suburban park take on a poetic tone through carefully planned and choreographed takes.

Tabula Rasa Matthew Rankin, MB and QC, 10’ World Premiere
  ln the aftermath of the 1950 Winnipeg flood, apathetic Fernand floats listlessly through a ruined city while his estranged wife, MarieOiseau, prays for the drowned souls of Saint-Boniface.

Throat Song Miranda de Pencier, ON and NU, 15’ World Premiere
  ln the snowy Canadian Arctic, a young Inuk woman silently suffers in an abusive relationship with her alcoholic husband. When she gets a job that connects her with other victims of abuse, she discovers that her voice is not yet entirely diminished.

Trotteur Arnaud Brisebois and Francis Leclerc, QC, 9’ Canadian Premiere
  A young outcast pits himself in a race against a raging locomotive. Fantastic visual effects add to this powerful tale of man versus machine.

Up ln Cottage Country Simon Ennis, ON, 10’ World Premiere
  An absurd re-imagining of Katka’s ln Der Strafkolonie, Up in Cottage Country has George (Josh Peace) stumble upon an elaborate torture machine operated by a defunct officer (Julian Richings). Aiso stars Liane Balaban.

Waning Gina Haraszti, QC, 8’ World Premiere
  Waning is a short fiction film using spatial montage to address the narratives of memory and loss. The story follows an aspiring model who one day meets a photographer with a unique portfolio, seeking beauty in death.

Water (Acqua) Raha Shirazi, ON, 8’ World Premiere
  ln a film that celebrates traditions and their roots, a girl travels far from home to bring back water.

We Ate the Children Last Andrew Cividino, ON, 11’ World Premiere
  Researchers discover a radical cure for digestive tract iIInesses by transplanting organs from pigs into the human body. Medical miracle morphs into pop phenomenon as eating garbage explodes in popularity, but society is not prepared for consequences more irreversible and chilling than a fleeting fado

The Weight of Emptiness (Le poids du vide) Alain Fournier, QC, 13’ World Premiere
  Thomas suffers from strange weightlessness crises. Distressed, his mother takes every means to bring him down to earth.

A Yodeling Farmer Mike Maryniuk and John Scoles, MB, 6’ World Premiere
  ln a wooden folk-art universe, a crude internet search takes the viewer on a ride down the information super-railroad, exploring the life and music of Manitoba cowboy yodeling legend Stu Clay ton.