The 2008 Worldwide Short Film Festival

The Worldwide Short Film Festival presented thirteen awards and $ 80, 000 in cash and prizes at the 2008 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:

• Best Canadian Short Film - CFC Alumna Sarah Galea-Davis with a $10,000 cheque, for the dramatic short - CAN YOU WAVE BYE-BYE? - which is about a single woman overwrought with postpartum depression tackled a complex and often taboo subject with sensitivity and subtlety
• The Jackson-Triggs Award For Best Emerging Canadian Filmmaker - CFC Alumna Audrey Cummings received and a cash prize of $5,000 for her direction of BURGEON AND FADE, the mother/daughter drama of aging and love, produced through the 2007 CFC Short Dramatic Film Program.
• The C.O.R.E Digital Pictures Award For Best Animated Short was awarded to Jay White (Canada), for his hilarious and inventive BOAR ATTACK garnering him $5000 in cash and eligibility for the 2009 Academy Awards®
• Best Live-Action Short and a Sony Digital Camcorder was captured by director Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont (France) for the arresting drama MANON ON THE ASPHALT (MANON SUR LE BITUME)
• The Best Experimental Short honour along with a Sony digital video camcorder, went to François Bégin and Miryam Bouchard (Canada) for the dance love story ROASTBEEF
• The Kodak Award for Best Cinematography in a Canadian Short - Brendan Steacy for THE ANSWER KEY
• Best Documentary Award, presented by Stella Artois with a $2,500 cash prize and $1,000 of Stella Artois for the filmmaker's next production, went to director Bartosz Blaschke (Poland) for his documentary ZIETEK.
• Best Performance in a Live-Action Short - Yosef Corman-Korman from Israel's DEATH OF SHULA, who brought to life so vividly the sadness a father experiences when his expectations of family life have changed.
• A Special Jury Prize for Best Comedy - director Rob Meyer (USA) for AQUARIUM
• TELUS Audience Choice Award - OUT OF SPAJALD (VAEK FRA SPAJALD), directed by Thomas Glud and Lars Wass (Denmark) a $5,000 cash prize
• Screenplay Giveaway Prize - Kris Elgstrand for his script "Big Head" to be directed by CFC Alumnus Dylan Akio Smith - a package of goods and services worth over $50,000

Now in its 14th year, The Worldwide Short Film Festival 2008 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 the opening Gala Winners From Around the World which shows ( as you would expect ) short award winners from around the world as well as the winners from this festival.

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 the 2008 Worldwide Short Film Festival!

© 2008 Photographs and Article by G.C. Eyre, All Rights Reserved

@ Press Conference

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