2010 Worldwide Short Film Festival
June 1 to 6, 2010
The Canadian Film Center held the 2010 Worldwide Short Film Festival was held June 1 to 6, 2010 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. According to the Canadian Film Centre, 281 shorts from around the world were screened over six days and this year's festival
offered 31 different programmes selected from a record breaking 3, 966 submissions. There were five Competitive programs of Canadian short films and videos
the largest competition of Canadian films in the world and nine Competitive programs of international short films and videos. Of great interest to film
makers would be the over $ 70,000 in cash and prizes awarded. The BIG IDEAS Symposium offers professional development for film makers, while the Business
Centre is home to the largest short film marketplace in North America.
The Worldwide Short Film Festival presented thirteen awards and $ 70, 000 in cash and prizes at the 2010 WSFF Awards Picnic on the beautiful grounds of the
Canadian Film Center in the presence of over 300 industry delegates and filmmakers from around the globe. Accredited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences®, these award winners are eligible for the Genie Awards, and winners of the Best Live-Action Short and Best Animated Short are eligible for the
Academy Awards . The festival's reputation for programming is doing well due to the five shorts in 2006 that went on to be nominated for Academy Awards®
and one winner.
In Toronto Arts & Event's view, the highlight of the Worldwide Short Film Festival is the awards and associated films:
The winners are (the envelope please):
The Bravo!FACT Award for Best Canadian Short: director Jean Malek - LES POISSONS (FISHES)
The Jackson-Triggs Award for Best Emerging Canadian Filmmaker: J.B. Sugar for his documentary WOOD IF
The Deluxe Award for Best Live Action Short: Hamy Ramezan (Finland) for OVER THE FENCE (VIIKO ENNEN VAPPUA) - eligibility for the 2010 Academy Awards®
The Deluxe Award for Best Performance in a Live-Action Short: actors Noni Hazelhurst and Anthony Phelan - A PARACHUTE FALLING IN SIBERIA (Australia)
The Kodak Award for Best Cinematography in a Canadian Short: Cinematographer Maya Bankovic for the visually stunning SLIP
Best Animated Short honour: Joanna Lurie (France) for THE SILENCE BENEATH THE BARK (LE SILENCE SOUS L’ÉCORCE)
Best Documentary Short honour: Vance Malone (USA) for THE POODLE TRAINER
Screenplay Giveaway Prize, a package of goods and services worth over $50,000 was awarded to Geoff Redknapp for his script The Last Christmas
The TELUS Audience Choice Award: Luxury (Luksus) (Poland) from director Jaroslaw Sztandera
Now in its 16th year, The Worldwide Short Film Festival 2010 showed an amazing array of great short films and videos from around the world. It creates
difficulty in deciding which films to see! For those with limited time, TorontoArtsandEvents recommends Festival Award Winners and the opening Gala Winners
From Around the World which
shows ( as you would expect ) short award winners from around the world. This year it included the following great films: Runaway, Seeds of the Fall, Tungijuq, The Six Dollar Fifty Man and It's Sunday. TorontoArtsandEvents' favourite was the Canadian animation film Runaway which told the story of a runaway train - winner of many prizes.
In 2006, this festival produced five Academy Award nominees including one which won an award; namely, The Danish Poet. It will be interesting to see what
is produced this year!
Check back here for next year's Worldwide Short Film Festival!
© 2010 Photographs by G. C. Eyre and Article by C. Smith, All Rights Reserved
@ Press Conference
@ Awards