Hart House Film Board Gala
The Hart House Film Board’s juried selection of shorts opened with The Audience (David Eng), a witty six-minute film about a group of audience members sitting in a movie theatre, munching on popcorn, and watching an art-house film. It’s a clever meta moment, making the real-life audience members acutely aware of the ways we react to film. “Self-indulgent, pretentious, solipsistic masturbation,” says one disgruntled character in The Audience. “I bet it’s Canadian.”
Too bad the audience also had to sit through A Bottle of Whiskey, 112 Swears, and a Raincoat (Kevin Claydon, Phil Moniz), a lacklustre comedy that manages to combine the worst of Hollywood fare—fake blood, partial nudity, terrible puns, and a pair of inept would-be hit-men—without being remotely humorous.
Far stronger were two documentaries that tackle important, timely topics. Raw Milk (Rachel James) packs a whole lotta food politics into five minutes, touching on the divide between urbanites and the farmers who produce our food. Equally impressive is Site 41 (Todd Harris), which covers the grassroots opposition to a proposed dumpsite near Georgian Bay. It’s easy to forgive both docs for their amateur feel, since they demonstrate why local filmmaking is so important: it gives us the opportunity to hear local stories. Very Canadian indeed.—Laura Berger
Canadian Students One
The films in this series were as diverse as they were sincere. Produced by filmmakers from across Toronto, Canadian Students One showcased vibrant animation, solid writing, and heartfelt honesty.
Several of the filmmakers seemed to have drawn their creative inspiration from children’s picture books. Optimistically Ended (Natasha Ivanco) is the sharply drawn and darkly comical story of a socially questionable girl who narrates so angelically, you wouldn’t imagine she wants to “set fire to her peers.”
Sarah and Jim (Martin Edralin) was one of the few films to rely on a three-act story structure. The writing was straightforward yet original, reflecting the small encounters people experience living in a big city—a resonant message for the Toronto audience.
The series also featured a number of short documentaries, many of which were genuine artistic works on emotion. Where is the Support? (Ilona Abramovich) resembled a photo-album in its depiction of young gay woman’s life after coming out. She narrates as if free-associating her wounded soul to an unknown figure, perhaps the person to whom she came out.
Overall, Canadian Students One revealed the range of creative talent students have to offer.—Jordan Rivera
Canadian Students Two
I stared into the abyss, and a dizzying cesspool of uninspired cinema stared back at me— save for a glint of creativity by Lee Filipovski with her quirky comedy Hairdresser on Fire. The cuteness of the film’s lead—a neurotic Amelie-esque art enthusiast—and the story’s dark, twisted ending make up for the unintentionally shaky camera work and performances.
While over-acting tends to be the Achilles’ heel of student films, the other entries in the Canadian Students Two program walked with a visible limp for additional reasons. While bromantic musical Casey Come Back (Mark Delotinville) gets an A for ambition with its catchy numbers, the story is too inert to sustain the viewer’s interest.
The six minutes of Sandwiches and Salad on a Sunday Afternoon (Sean Grounds), in which a dude devours a gratuitously gory sandwich, would be enjoyable if you were stoned while watching it. Grounds’ other film, the nine-minute Gotta Poo would only be watchable while stoned and drunk, as the story centres on a constipated dude whose farts bar him from finding love.
On the Fringe (Phil Moniz), a mockumentary about urban crime, trips over its flat jokes and poor comedic timing. Finally, the stop-motion animated, live action A Beard Film (Ian Robertson) is about, er, a dude shaving his beard.—Moe Abbas
A Beard Film
Spotlight on Cinema Studies Students
Contributions to the festival by U of T Cinema Studies students included experimental, comedy, drama and action shorts. Experimental film Lucidity (Svebor Pavic) was a pleasure to watch for the way it illustrated a surreal story with classic photographs instead of regular film. The lack of dialogue meant that the audience had to decide for themselves what the story conveyed. The beautiful scenery was a particular highlight.
The Bus is Coming (Peter Kuplowsky) featured goofy humour. A memorable scene had toy characters screaming while their school bus sped about, crashing multiple times. Brain on Drugs (Alan Jones) also generated laughs for its creative depiction of what one sees after snorting a whole pile of coke.
Docu-fantasy M.A.M. (Katrina Lagace, Jean Marc Ah-Sen) stood out for its unique story in which a woman recounts waking up one day to find out she was alone in the world. Phantom of the Library (Tanya Hoshi) featured engaging music but needed further development—the ending felt as if the film was missing its second half.—Mersiha Gadzo
