CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival

The CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival 2011 in Yonge-Dundas Square, Toronto

The Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival (WSFF), founded by Brenda Sherwood in 1994, was an annual film festival held over several days in Toronto, Ontario in June, at The Annex-Yorkville area venues; including the Bloor Cinema, the University of Toronto, and the Isabel Bader Theatre, among others.

The WSFF holds accreditation, and is recognized as a qualifying event for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) short film awards. This means that certain award-winners at the WSFF are eligible to be nominated for the Oscars, Genies, and BAFTAs awards.[1]

In 2012, the festival received 4,768 submissions from 113 countries, and it is currently the largest short film festival in North America.[2][3] The festival has been described in the Canadian Encyclopedia as "a popular and productive meeting place for audiences, filmmakers, buyers and sellers interested in the art and commerce of making movies in short form",[4] and this is reflected in the Short Films Big Ideas Symposium, which features master classes and panel discussions focused on professional development for those involved in the industry.

Each year the festival offers a celebrity program which has, in the past, featured films with such notables as Scott Thompson, Judi Dench, David Duchovny, Michael Fassbender, Max von Sydow, Natalie Portman, Dick Van Dyke, Don Cheadle, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, Gérard Depardieu, Stephen Fry, and Anthony Hopkins, among others. The festival has also had films screen by many notable directors and celebrities, including Errol Morris, Spike Jonze, Rachel Weisz, Talmage Cooley, Courteney Cox, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.[5][6] In addition to the annual screenings in June, the festival also runs a monthly screening series called A World of Shorts.

The Festival Mascot, Miel, watches over the 2012 launch in Dufferin Grove Park

History

The Worldwide Short Film Festival was founded in 1994, and operated independently under the direction of Brenda Sherwood until 2000, when the Festival was acquired by the Canadian Film Centre (CFC). The Centre brought some professional expertise[7] to the venture: Wayne Clarkson, the CFC's executive director, who was the former head of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), from 1978 to 1985.

Brenda Sherwood was replaced as festival director by Shane Smith (2000-2006). Sherwood continued to serve on the festival advisory committee for 2001 festival season.[8] Since 2001, under the direction of Shane Smith, the CFC-WSFF attendance doubled to over 15,000, and submissions increased to over 4,200. The CFC-WSFF also hosts the largest digital marketplace for short films in North America.

Several CFC-WSFF juried short films went on to be nominated for Academy Awards. A few, like Chris Landreth's animated documentary Ryan, won the 2004 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, and the 25th Genie Award for Best Animated Short. Other Oscar winners include Harvie Krumpet by Adam Elliot (2003), Wasp by Andrea Arnold (2004) and The Danish Poet by Torill Kove (2006).

From 2004-to-2006, Festival Director Shane Smith, and festival researcher Peter Hasek pursued the idea of curating a 45-minute presentation of large format IMAX 15/70mm short films. This presentation was to have been screened at one of the IMAX theaters in downtown Toronto, as part of the CFC-WSFF program. The effort had support from Kodak Canada[9] and the English Animation Department[10] of the National Film Board of Canada. The event was to be promoted with tongue-in-cheek, but in actual fact, as "the only presentation at the Worldwide Short Film Festival that actually uses film."[11]

With only a dozen-or-so 15/70mm short films in existence, the long-term plan was to create a boutique distribution service and "circuit" for large format short films; with each festival offering its own pro-rated "audience choice" cash award system. The goal was to create a reliable source of income for large format short film makers.

The "debut screening" of the 15/70mm large format short film platter was to have been held during the Worldwide Short Film Festival, at one of the IMAX theaters in downtown Toronto in June, 2006 followed by a screening for the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival,[12] at the Science North IMAX Theater[13] in Sudbury, Ontario in September, 2006.

Promotional sign for the LF Project: a screening of large format, 15/70mm (IMAX) short films, on display at the 2005 Worldwide Short Film Festival. For references on the Large Format Project and the production of 15/70mm short films, see these on-line archives: [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]

Following these two festival screenings, the 15/70mm platter was destined for on-going, for-profit screenings at the Western Fair IMAX Theater[22] in London, Ontario in exchange for their help with the project. The Western Fair IMAX projection room and other facilities were to be used for print traffic co-ordination and revision work needed to assemble a 45-minute presentation of 15/70mm short films.

There were tentative plans for screening this ad hoc platter of 15/70mm short films at other IMAX theaters in Canada, and the United States, wherever the local IMAX theater had a strong partnership with their local, mainstream film festival that was similar to the working arrangement and relationship between the Cinéfest group and Science North,[23] in Sudbury, Ontario.

This plan fell-through over time when: (1) the Western Fair IMAX Theater in London, Ontario ceased operations in September 2005,[24] (2) the IMAX theaters in downtown Toronto wanted up-to $2000/hour in theater rental fees [25][26] to prepare and host a 15/70mm short film festival event, making the event unrealistic and unaffordable for CFC-WSFF organizers and patrons, respectively. And neither downtown Toronto IMAX theater was willing or able to provide print maintenance [27][28] and on-site storage [29] for the duration of the project (April–June 2006), (3) IMAX corporate office in Santa Monica, California let it be known, throughout the "IMAX theater network", that the corporation did not support the idea of a large format, 15/70mm short film circuit for its theaters, and that the corporations current "priority (circa 2004-05) was the 're-purposing' of mainstream Hollywood feature films for use in IMAX theaters (and that) promoting short films in IMAX theaters would be a distraction" from that goal,[30] and that IMAX had its own vision of what constituted an "IMAX film festival" that involved its theaters,[31] (4) the loss of WSFF Director Shane Smith, who was the principal supporter of the idea of screening large format, 15/70mm short films at mainstream film festivals and, (5) festival researcher Peter Hasek was diagnosed with cancer.

In the end, it was determined that the scope and human resource requirements of The LF Project was so wide and deep, it would require the formation of a separate, double bottom line non-profit organization in order to fully develop, implement and maintain the goal, set forth by Shane Smith and Peter Hasek, of curating a traveling presentation of IMAX short films that is both manageable and financially sustainable. [32]

Shane Smith retired as festival director of the CFC-WSFF after the 2006 festival season, and was replaced by former print traffic coordinator, Eileen Arandiga, who is currently the Director of Partnerships and Events at the Canadian Film Centre. Shane Smith is currently the Toronto Film Festival's Director of Special Projects. [33] [34]

In early-2013, the Canadian Film Centre began a re-evaluation of its public activities. As part of this re-evaluation process, the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival was put on hiatus.[35]

Previous award winners

Academy Awards Oscars qualifications, nominations and wins [36]

Up until the 2012 film festival season, and the 2013 hiatus, the Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival offered two Academy-accredited awards. Winners of the Best Animated Short award and the Deluxe Award for Best Live-Action Short qualify to be nominated for an Oscar. From 2001-to-2012, the following short films were screened at the Worldwide Short Film Festival, and were later nominated for an Oscar.

Audience Choice

Best Emerging Canadian Filmmaker

The Bravo!FACT Award for Best Canadian Short

The Deluxe Award for Best Live-Action Short

The Kodak Award for Best Cinematography in a Canadian Short

Best Animated Short

The Panasonic Award for Best Documentary Short

Best Experimental Short

The Deluxe Award for Best Performance in a Live-Action Short

Screenplay Giveaway

Funding Forum Pitch Prize

References

  1. ↑ Hickman, Angela. "The Worldwide Short Film Festival gets ready to roll out the red carpet" The National Post, Toronto, 11 May 2011
  2. ↑ Droganes, Constance. "Rachel Weisz makes directorial debut at T.O. festival". ctv.ca. CTV News. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  3. ↑ Kinos-Goodin, Jesse. "Worldwide Short Film Festival: Size doesn’t matter with these films". Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  4. ↑ Handling, Piers. "Canadian Film Centre". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  5. ↑ Slotek, Jim. "Short and sweet: Worldwide Short Film Festival long on (celebrity) talent". The Toronto Sun. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  6. ↑ Kinos-Goodin, Jesse. "Worldwide Short Film Festival: Size doesn’t matter with these films". Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  7. ↑ "THE CANADIAN FILM CENTRE'S WORLDWIDE SHORT FILM FESTIVAL (6/6-10/01).". The Free Library. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  8. ↑ "THE CANADIAN FILM CENTRE'S WORLDWIDE SHORT FILM FESTIVAL (6/6-10/01).". The Free Library. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  9. ↑ Johanna Gravelle, National Sales Manager, KODAK CANADA
  10. ↑ Munro Ferguson, Animation Director, NFB Canada
  11. ↑ Shane Smith, Artistic Director, CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival
  12. ↑ Jason B...surname & title needed
  13. ↑ Chloe Gordon, Marketing Manager, SCIENCE NORTH, Sudbury, Ontario CANADA
  14. ↑ "Sheridan College (Canada) supports the efforts of Kalpesh Patel and Richie Mehta; the first Canadian students to produce an IMAX short film: at the same time, Sheridan College testing the viability of including a Large Format Media module to it's Advanced Film & Television Program".
  15. ↑ "Page from the 2002 Sheridan College calendar: the course description for the "Large Screen Production Techniques Primer (FILM4049)" module".
  16. ↑ "CANADIAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS feature news item about Sheridan College students effort to produce an "IMAX" short film".
  17. ↑ "Featuring Ryerson University (Canada) film student Mark Bethune's production of the action-packed "IMAX" short film, "Stage Fright," and the 2003 GSTA Survey, and strategic advice from IMAX industry professionals for future student filmmakers on how they might develop a Large Format "IMAX" short film productions in ways that would ensure success in IMAX's institutional theaters".
  18. ↑ "The Giant Screen Theater Association in the U.S. tells the story of how Canadian students Kalpesh Patel, Richie Mehta and Mark Bethune succeeded at producing the 2nd and 3rd IMAX short films ever by students, in 2002 and 2003".
  19. ↑ "Kalpesh Patel, film director - Google Images".
  20. ↑ "Richie Mehta, film director - Google Images".
  21. ↑ "Mark Bethune, film director - Google Images".
  22. ↑ Voytek Michalczk, Manager of the Western Fair IMAX Theatre in London, Ontario
  23. ↑ Lisa Koski, Marketing Specialist, Memberships & Programs, SCIENCE NORTH, Sudbury, Ontario CANADA
  24. ↑ Voytek Michalczk, Manager of the Western Fair IMAX Theatre in London, Ontario
  25. ↑ Famous Players IMAX, Toronto
  26. ↑ Cinesphere IMAX at Ontario Place, Toronto
  27. ↑ Famous Players IMAX, Toronto
  28. ↑ Cinesphere IMAX at Ontario Place, Toronto
  29. ↑ Most entries to the Worldwide Short Film Festival (WSFF), or any film festival, are submitted on CD-ROM or DVD. A reel or platter of large format (IMAX) 70mm 15-perf short films featured at the WSFF can weigh 100 kilograms or more, and require the use of a forklift truck to move the 70mm film platter from the shipping dock, to the storage room, to the projection room.
  30. ↑ Hugh Murray, Vice President of Film Production, IMAX Corporation
  31. ↑ An IMAX-sanctioned "film festival" consists of several existing IMAX feature films being packaged and sold to patrons at a deep discount. The Worldwide Short Film Festival conventional film festival model might compete-with or distract-from IMAX Corporations marketing-oriented film festival model.
  32. ↑ Peter Hasek, researcher and developer of The LF Project
  33. ↑ "IMDB - Shane Smith".
  34. ↑ "Hollywood Reporter - Short Cuts".
  35. ↑ "WSFF website announcing festival hiatus".
  36. ↑ A short film can qualify for an Academy Award Oscar nomination by three(?) methods, and in three(?) categories: (1) it can be screened at a theater in Los Angeles County... , (2)...
  37. ↑ WINNER at the 76th Academy Awards (2004 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2003)
  38. ↑ Nominated for the 76th Academy Awards (2004 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2003)
  39. ↑ WINNER at the 77th Academy Awards (2005 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2004)
  40. ↑ Nominated for the 77th Academy Awards (2005 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2004)
  41. ↑ WINNER at the 77th Academy Awards (2005 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2004)
  42. ↑ Nominated for the 78th Academy Awards (2006 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2005)
  43. ↑ WINNER at the 79th Academy Awards (2007 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2006)
  44. ↑ Nominated for the 80th Academy Awards (2008 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2007)
  45. ↑ Nominated for the 83rd Academy Awards (2011 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2010)

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