Now in its 14th year, Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival features some of the most electrifying and original Canadian films of the year. Organized by the Toronto International Film Festival, the series includes films from Quebec, Alberta, Nunavut and British Columbia and shorts from across the country – This program highlights the best independent student shorts of 2014.
Introduced by programmer and Top Ten Student shorts jury member Dave Barber
Backroads / Dir. Candy Fox, 2014, Canada, 15 min This powerful documentary testimonial by Camillia Stonechild, who relates her upbringing on a Saskatchewan reserve and sheds light on the strength of survivors of family abuse.
Dinner Time / Dir. Alexander Mainwaring, 2014, Canada, 10 min
A bloodthirsty wolf-man is challenged by a not-so-innocent Little Red Riding Hood, in this subversive and creative twist on the famous tale.
Elpis / Dir. Akreta Saim, 2014, Canada, 9 min (Greek w/ English subtitles ) Prior to her death during childbirth, Akreta Saim’s cousin Ruby wrote a series of letters to her unborn child. Elpis is an experimental, moving adaptation of a mother’s words of hope.
Fallow / Dir. Breanna Cheek, 2014, Canada, 4 min
The slow-moving life in a pastoral village is exquisitely rendered in these animated tableaux by director Breanna Cheek, who finds beauty in the ordinary, from local homesteads to a diner, to an isolated laundromat.
La dernière danse sur la Main / Last Dance on the Main / Dir. Aristofanis Soulikias, 2014, Canada, 3 min (English, French w/ English subtitles) This animated short documents the demolition of a row of historic Red-Light District buildings on Montreal’s Saint- Laurent Boulevard, and the response by the colourful citizens who fought back.
Lifers / Dir. Joel Salaysay, 2014, Canada, 10 min
A young dishwasher observes his eclectic co-workers in a busy kitchen as he contemplates future career options. Director Joel Salaysay serves up an entertaining and honest slice of culinary life.
Light / Dir. Yassmina Karajah, 2014, Canada, 13 min ( English, Arabic w/ English subtitle) Devastated by the death of his newborn son, a Lebanese man living in an adoptive country is challenged by his mother’s request that he perform Islamic pre-burial rituals in the hospital.
Never Stop Cycling / Dir. Colin Lepper, 2014, Canada, 4 min
In this brilliant, Tim Burton–inspired stop-motion animation, a creature in search of a vital organ must journey from his dreary apartment to a strange, exotic world
Running Season / Dir. Grayson Moore, 2014, Canada, 20 min
Anxious to sell his late father’s seaside house on Prince Edward Island after severed feet in running shoes start washing up on the shoreline and devaluing the property, Arthur must contend with the vultures circling to snap it up.
Tomonster / Dir. Pui Ka Wong , 2014, Canada, 2 min
When an alien lands in a tomato field, he quickly discovers that idyllic farmland can be dangerous ground to an intruder. Tomonster is a stunning CGI animation that is riotous fun.
Notes and initial selection by Magali Simard and Alex Rogalski
This screening has been generously sponsored by IATSE 856 and Radio-Canada Manitoba
