Didn't think the week would go so quickly.

Great afternoon at the Match Club for our first Short Cuts Canada Round table. At a festival this size, there's a lot of industry, and talk about big deals, it's easy to forget about the emerging market for shorts. SCC filmmakers had a great opportunity to have meetings with distributors, buyers, funders, and any one else you can imagine who deals with short films. Great opportunity for our short filmmakers to network and realize (for those with first films) that making your short is just half the fun. The other half is getting people to see it! That's where the round table came it with industry folk from across the country and internationally.

 Not to mention, what a great chance for the industry to meet the incredible talent behind the 40 shorts at our festival, and put faces and names to the great films they've seen. 

 With all this excitement, it's hard to believe we have only one screening left. The repeat of programme 3 is on Friday night at 7pm at Jackman Hall. Word has spread far and wide about this fantastic line up (and people's last chance to feed their need for shorts on the big screen), so get in the rush line soon, as tickets are sold out!

 Speaking of audiences we were very pleased to host Robert Lepage at the premiere of programme 4. Mr. Lepage was the inspiration behind the concept for Danse Macabre, and it was very generous of him to join us for the entire screening.

 Keep watching for some festival highlight postings to come in the next few days.

So, it's day 5, you're crushed that you've missed a couple of Short Cuts programmes, and need something to tide you over until you can see our programmes in the evening.

 Well, we'll take care of you. TIFF is presenting a selection of 5 shorts from SCC online during the festival. Click here to link to the site where you can see THE ISLAND, TUNGIJUQ, THE TRANSLATOR, 5 DYSFUNCTIONAL PEOPLE IN A CAR, and POINTLESS FILM. 

 Forward to your friends, so they don't have to waste their work day on facebook. And if you like any of these, you'll love our programmes. We only have a few screenings left, so come check out

Programme 4 3pm TODAY - Jackman Hall (AGO)

Programme 5 7:15 pm TODAY - Isabel Bader Theatre

Programm 5 4pm (TOMORROW 16TH) - Jackman Hall (AGO)

Programme 3 7pm (FRIDAY 18th) - Jackman Hall (AGO)

Bad News. There are absolutely no tix. available programme 4 premiere tonight.

Good News. We have sold out Programme 4!!!! (and there are still some tix availabe for the repeat tomorrow afternoon).

 Just a bit of advice, get your tickets NOW for programme 5 premiere tomorrow night. If history has taught us anything SCC premieres SELL OUT. The screening starts at 7:15pm at the Isabel Bader.

 And if you need a preview of the programme, tune into CBC Metro Morning (99.1fm) at 7:50 am. Mio Adilman will be talking about his directorial debut with UNLOCKED. If you're a cyclist in this city, it's a film you can definitely relate to.

Programme 4 premieres tonight, and no knocks against our other programmes (cause we think they're awesome), but Norm Wilner of NOW found something something extra special about it.

"Programme 4 is the highlight, a lineup of meditations on death and regret from strong, confident filmmakers. Nicolas Pereda’s grim fictionalized documentary Interview With The Earth; Pedro Pires’s striking dance piece Danse Macabre; Anne Emond’s muted two-hander Naissances; Nikos Theodosakis and Linda Theodosakis’s West Coast drama Smoke; Jamie Travis’s suburban mystery The Armoire; Ed Gass-Donnelly’s silent Sixty Seconds Of Regret; Félix Dufour-Laperrière’s experimental M: every one’s a winner."

Guy Dixon of the Globe and Mail highlighted the shorts programme in today's issue. Saying this about programme 4 "Possibly the most intriguing short is Nicolas Pereda's Interview With The Earth , featuring two young brothers in a Mexican town coming to terms with the loss of their father."

And it's day 4 of the festival, you've been patient enough, the wait is over for Jamie Travis' The Armoire. Check out this great article from Xtra, talking to Jamie about his past work, and how The Armoire came about.

But as always, don't take the critics word on this, come out to programme 4 and judge for yourself, you won't be disappointed.

It's seems like the momentum behind Short Cuts Canada programmes this year shows no signs of letting up. 

After two fantastic screenings of Programme 2 with Maddin's Night Mayor, Radwanski's Out in that Deep Blue Sea, and Samer Najari's Snow Hides the Shade of Fig Trees (along with the rest of that great programme), there's an incredible appetite for incredible Canadian short film, and we did all we could to feed it with last night's premiere of Programme 3 at Jackman Hall.

A sold out (and I mean sold-out. not a single empty seat in the theatre, we packed in as many from the Rush line as possible) audience was introduced to a funny, thoughtful, and very ecclectic line up of films.  

 Cordell Barker has arrived from Winnipeg to present his newest animated NFB film Runaway, and as he did back in May, the National Post has him blogging about the experience. We were talking about the difference between the presentation of shorts at Cannes and Toronto, and he said that screening it in Toronto with a full public audience in a programme of short films, gives a filmmaker a great appreciation of how their film is received (hopefully, April enjoyed it on the big screen even without her glasses :).  

 The Post also did a quick Q&A with Dusty Mancinelli (whose film SOAP is also in programme 3). Too bad Daniel Day Lewis isn't here for the fest to meet up with Dusty and discuss new projects. 

You can catch the repeat screening of programme 3 with directors in attendance today at 3pm at Jackman Hall.  

It's hard to keep up with the great press that SCC has been receiving, and it's nice to know others are feeling what we've thought all along.

 Short Cuts Canada is the most dynamic and exiting programme that TIFF offers. But talk to any TIFF programmer, and they'll tell you the same about their respective programmes. What can we say, we're a proud bunch, who gets really excited about sharing great work with fantastic audiences.

 We were able to witness one of those fantastic audiences last night at Isabel Bader Theatre for a packed screening of Programme 1. It was a great launch to our programming and set the perfect tone for the week. For those who missed it, get tickets NOW for the 1pm repeat at Jackman Hall. 

 It will be the only tickets for a short programme you'll get today, unless you already have them in hand for Programme 2, cause the Bader will burst again this afternoon with Shorts enthusiasts ready to witness the sold out world premiere of 7 amazing new films including Guy Maddin's newest.

 Now for the reason of this post, to give you access to many of the great stories and interviews our films have been receiving.  

 It would be wrong not to start with Bruce Kirkland's glowing review of the SCC programme.

 "Short Cuts Canada may be the most dynamic, wildly eccentric and visually varied program in the Toronto International Film Festival.

No other single program can boast the breadth of styles, genres and subject matters, from the mainstream to the extreme."

I concur.

And I would add nowhere is this more evident than in programme 2. Guy Maddin has been a favourite for a number of years at TIFF, and the Night Mayor will only add to his lore. Bruce Kirkland talked with Maddin about his inspiration for the film. There's also the Winnipeg Free Press article about the hometown hero, with a glimpse of Maddin's upcoming (COLOUR!!) film. And if you just can't get enough, here's a full length interview transcript the NFB did with Maddin about the project. 

 There will no noubt be some Maddin fans at the screening today, but they'll be a joined by a wide range of cineastes who have caught onto a new wave of filmmakers in the programme, including Sami Khan, Sonya Di Rienzo, Samer Najari, Ryan Mullins, and Kazik Radanski. Radwanski has been quickly gaining a critical following, and if you've seen Princess Margaret Blvd., you'll know why.

Radwanski and his producing partner Dan Montgomery have refined their style and brought another great film to TIFF in Out in that Deep Blue Sea. Adam Nayman sums up the film in his interview with the director. 'Like its predecessor, Out in That Deep Blue Sea adopts a laser-like focus on a single character — a struggling real estate salesman (a superb Peter Bavis) in the throes of personal and professional paralysis. 

Radwanski creates an authenticity that shows he has his finger on the pulse of our times, and can make anyone seem like a seasoned actor with only a few minutes on screen. Inside Toronto profiled the Riverdale resident, and talked to him about his casting choices.

I'd be remiss not to mention the return of Richard Kerr and his film De Mouvement, an experimental collage film that has caught the eye of Norm Wilner of NOW , and Bruce Kirkland of the Toronto Sun, who highlights it as some of the best abstract work at the festival. 

There's no doubt, programme 2 will be a festival highlight today, so count yourself among the lucky if you managed to get your ticket and find yourself sitting in the Isabel Bader theatre come 4pm today.

As part of our illustrious guests attending the premiere of Programme 1 tonight, we're very pleased to announce that Tanya Tagaq will be attending the screening.

If you are not familiar with her work, you're missing out. If you are a fan, this is a great chance to see a great on screen performance in Tungijuq and see her in person.

Wow, just when we thought this screening was as fantastic as it could be, nice surprises like this occur. Only at TIFF.

Todd Brown of Twitch film lines out his top picks of the fest. He limits it to 10 (but considering we have 40, that's a pretty favourable percentage of recommends).

He highlights some great animation, including M, Runaway, and The Spine which happens to be in programme 1 tonight (in a packed programme with more incredible animation in Tungijuq).

There are still some tickets available for the Isabel Bader 9:30 screenings (but don't wait, they won't last long).

 Check back later today, for some great highlights from programme 2 premiering tomorrow (including the world premiere of Guy Maddin's newest, and a new short from Kazik Radwanski)

The bard said it best 'Brevity is the soul of wit'.

And Adam Nayman expresses this so well with summations of his top picks from the Short Cuts Canada program.

Rarely does one read reviews of short films that exhibit film criticism of a competency usually reserved for journals.

If you haven't already made your picks, this is a sure place to start. If nothing else it's just a great read.

Sure, we're all excited about the opening night gala of Creation at Roy Thomson Hall on Thursday night, but the truth is, the first film screening at TIFF this year has three very important and little know facts.

 1. It is Canadian

2. It's FREE!

3. It's a short!

 As part of the Yonge Dundas Square activities, the first of the free noon hour films is 'Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man'. And to celebrate this film and the NFB's 70th anniversary, we're preceding the feature with a great short film by the NFB called POEN, released 1967 by director Josef Reeve. If you've never had a chance to see this great short featuring Cohen's poetry from 'Beautiful Losers'. there's no better opporunity than this Thursday (september 10) at noon in the sunshine at Dundas Square.

I can't think of a better way to kick off TIFF.

The venerable Jason Anderson, weighs in with his top picks for Short Cuts Canada.

"Again, the bounty and quality of work points to the vitality of Canada's film scene, especially when it comes to shorts."

Jason Anderson
Special to the Star

Whether they have several hours or only a few minutes to work their mojo, filmmakers need to make the most of every moment.

That notion is amply demonstrated by the best selections in Short Cuts Canada, TIFF's annual showcase of homegrown short films. Their lengths range from the size of a half-feature (such as My Toxic Baby, a 46-minute documentary by Toronto's Min Sook Lee about her efforts to protect her newborn from everyday toxins) to the extremely brief (e.g. Ed Gass-Donnelly's self-explanatory Sixty Seconds of Regret).

Again, the bounty and quality of work points to the vitality of Canada's film scene, especially when it comes to shorts. Making features in this country might remain a daunting challenge, but established and emergent filmmakers have a vibrant and often adventurous-minded support system for shorts, thanks to BravoFACT, the National Film Board and provincial agencies such as Quebec's SODEC.

The sheer diversity is also impressive, what with so many filmmakers eager to break convention.

Filmmakers from Quebec make a particularly strong showing this year with dramatic shorts that boast characters and situations more sharply defined than the kinds you find in most features. Anne Émond's Naissances is a striking vignette about a nighttime encounter between a single dad and a teenaged hitchhiker.

In Ivan Grbovic's stern La Chute, a similarly fraught relationship develops between a teacher and a student she suspects is being abused. In Samer Najari's melancholy and mildly fantastical Snow Hides the Shade of Fig Trees, a group of immigrant men share a day's work in wintry Montreal.

As for dramatic shorts by Toronto filmmakers, the strongest is by the same team that made Princess Margaret Blvd., an entry on the Canada's Top Ten shorts list for last year. Director Kazik Radwanski and producer Daniel Montgomery return with Out in That Deep Blue Sea, an unsettling portrait of a middle-aged man failing to cope with challenges in his family life and career.

Equally haunting is The Armoire, the latest by Jamie Travis, the creator of several shorts that show a distinct visual flair. Here, an adolescent boy copes with the disappearance of his friend by sleeping in the titular piece of furniture, which turns out to be his way of hiding from the truth.

But it's not all grim news at Short Cuts Canada. Among the more comedic shorts are Dylan Reibling's Record, a true-life vignette about an unlikely musical moment one afternoon in Kensington Market, and Spencer Maybee's Man v. Minivan, in which a young man's wedding-day nerves lead to much calamity and several blows to the head. The great David Fox delivers a delightful turn as Saint Peter in A Hindu's Indictment of Heaven, a wry slice-of-afterlife by Toronto's Dev Khanna.

Many of the animated shorts are just as remarkable. Runaway is a rollicking new effort by Cordell Barker, a filmmaker best known for his NFB fave The Cat Came Back. Scored to a traditional Newfoundland ballad, Bruce Alcock's Vive la Rose mixes new and old animation styles to wondrous effect.

If you'd rather see a demonstration of CGI's real artistic potential when it isn't used to depict battles between giant robots, Oscar winner Chris Landreth's The Spine is as visually mesmerizing as it is emotionally heart-wrenching.

Then there are the selections that really don't belong in any category. Most startling of all is Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël's Tungijuq, which draws gorgeous and grisly images from Inuit mythology and combines them with performances by throat singer Tanya Tagaq and Atanarjuat director Zacharias Kunuk.

Paramita Nath's Found creates something similarly magical and poetic by drawing from the history of a Laotian-Canadian family, as recorded in a discarded scrapbook.

A collaboration between filmmaker Pedro Pires and the ever-industrious Robert Lepage, Danse Macabre lives up to its name by charting the postmortem experience of a particularly lively corpse.

If you need a bit of a backgrounder before seeing My Toxic Baby premiere on Friday Night, check out this interview Adriana Barton did with director Min Sook Lee.

 You can also read Rita Zekas article in the Star. 

Brad Frenette of the National Post caught up with Agata Smoluch Del Sorbo (SCC programmer), to get the lowdown on Short Cuts Canada.

This year’s Short Cuts Canada program features 40 short films – ranging in length from one minute to 45 minutes - from established filmmakers such as Guy Maddin, Chris Landreth and Cordell Barker as well as emerging talent such as Dev Khanna, Émile Proulx-Cloutier and Sonya Di Rienzo.  I caught up with Agata Smoluch Del Sorbo, TIFF’s Manager of Canadian Programming and Short Cuts Canada programmer to discuss this year’s offering.
   
Q: What makes a great short film?
A: In general, a great short is original, imaginative, well-executed, and has a sense of purpose.

Q: Short films are seeing a rise in popularity. What might you attribute that to?  
A: I think there are a few causes for this. There have been some recent successes that have added to the attention that Canadian short films usually get – Next Floor, Madame Tutli-Putli, I Met the Walrus, The Danish Poet, Ryan.  More and more established feature filmmakers (Guy Maddin, Denis Villeneuve, Don McKellar) are choosing to work in the short form.  And there are also some new distribution models, particularly online, that have made short films easier to find and see.

More...

Matthew MacKinnon is a Film Circuit programmer, responsible for selecting Canadian short films to screen at over 200 Film Circuit locations across Canada. Knowing audiences, and having his own refined taste, he came up with his top 5 festival short picks.

RECORD: A smart short with minimal dialogue and plenty of charm.  Director Dylan Reibling proves that less is more in this well-crafted ode to record collecting that features a killer Soviet soundtrack only available on vinyl.

OUT IN THAT DEEP BLUE SEA:  Further proof of Kazik Radwanski’s maturity as a director.  In his follow-up to last year’s Short Cuts Canada favourite, Princess Margaret Blvd., Radwanski offers a disarmingly intimate portrait of professional and personal malaise that features a first class performance by newcomer Peter Bavis - Canada's answer to Philip Seymour Hoffman. 

'75 EL CAMINO

Beautifully capturing the industrial expanses of Sarnia, director Sami Khan uses the city as a backdrop to craft a poignant and timely portrait of economic hardship and loss that will resonate with anyone who has ever longed for the open road. 

5 DYSFUNCTIONAL PEOPLE IN A CAR –  For people who do not long for the open road.

RUNAWAY: A cautionary tale on the dangers of mixing trains and jazz music from the award-winning animator Cordell Barker.  A definite must see. 

Chandra Menard from BlogTO has posted her top 8 picks from Short Cuts Canada. I admire the attempt to limit it at 8 picks (but she sneaks in a few more).

"Short Cuts is like a fest within The Fest, running five full programmes and pairing some odds and ends (each under 50 minutes in length) with screenings of Canadian features. Thrillers, dark comedies, and the latest from animation guru Cordell Barker top my list of standouts in this year's set."

You can read her selections here.

 If you need a testament to the strength of this year's program, you'll only need notice that she reviews her top faves (and doesn't get a chance to review Maddin's masterpiece).

Bruce Demara of the Star interviewed Pat Mills about his journey as a director, and his involvement with TIFF along the way.

You can read the article here.

Pat's new film 5 Dysfunctional People in a Car plays with Gun to the Head. (it's also available online during the festival)

Sami Khan returns to Tiff this year with 75 El Camino, a film made in a locale Khan is very familiar with. After spending his formative years in Sarnia, Khan returned from Columbia University in New York to shoot the follow up to his film The Workout. One of the most exciting aspects of Short Cuts Canada programming is how the diversity of film depicts an array of locales, often not showcased in feature films. Feature work tends to be tethered to larger urban centres for reasons of economic considerations (crew, studios, etc). Shorts have an ability to be more mobile, and as a result showcase areas that are incredibly cinematic and offer a whole range of great stories, otherwise untold. 

In this year's programme Edge of the Desert, Life Begins, Unlocked, Smoke, Naissances, Deadman, Snow Hides the Shade of Fig Trees, among others, all capture unique Canadian locations that are integral to the stories they share.

Paul Morden of The Observer, caught up with Khan to talk about the inspiration for his film, and how he managed to find a vintage vehicle that captured the past and present of a post-industrial city.

You can link to the article here.

You can see Sami Khan's world premiere of 75 El Camino in Programme 2

Saturday September 12 4pm Isabel Bader Theatre

Sunday September 13   1:15 pm Jackman Hall - AGO

It's a powerhouse line up this year for Short Cuts Canada.

As always, it's the biggest bang for a buck at the festival. No where else will one ticket get you 6 films or more.

If you've never been to a Short Cuts Canada screening, then you've never really been to TIFF.

For those who have been, they know that we put the emphasis on what goes on the screen, not the red carpet. You will have great opportunities to talk to the filmmakers (it's my third year and I've yet to see a handler at any of our screenings). And you will be the first to see films that make up the most diverse range of cinema at the festival. I guarantee that no other screening will show you drama, comedy, animation, documentary and experimental work in 90 minutes or less.

Too many highlights in this year's programme to put up in one blog, but I can tell you what to expect here in the coming days and weeks.

This is the first place to check for up to the minute news about films in our program (get the scoop on the new Guy Maddin film)

Find out about other places at TIFF to see great Canadian short film (online content and free screenings at Yonge Dundas Square)

Filmmaker blogs (coming soon).

Stay tuned, more suprises are in store.