What: The Whistler Short Film Fest
Where: MY Place
When: Dec. 7, 3:30 p.m.
For filmgoers with short attention spans, weak bladders, or a love for the little things in life, Saturday’s Short Film Fest is for you. It’s a versatile ensemble of the Whistler Film Festival’s best short submissions, running from 30 seconds to 30 minutes.
Fifty-six entries were received from all over the world, including Israel, Germany, Australia, the U.S. and Canada. Festival producer, Kasi Lubin, said she was thrilled with the caliber of submissions.
"This category is growing tremendously, " she said. "It was a tough choice narrowing the selections down so we decided to spread them out a bit to get more in. Three will be three in the Antarctic Perspective, nine at the Shortfest and one will be screened before the Lilith Fair documentary."
The first selection of shorts, titled An Antarctic Perspective , will screen Friday at 1 p.m. Farewell Letters is a moving short about Robert F. Scott’s historic and fatal expedition to the South Pole . The Last Husky recounts the demise of the husky era in Antarctica, and The Land That Time Forgot takes you to the remote glaciers of Antarctica with a group of eager boarders and skiers.
The Festival’s official Shortfest on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. will have some of the films’ makers on hand to introduce their work. Here’s a brief rundown:
JET
Canada (B.C.) 18 mins.
Details the eye-opening events that take place after a group of shoplifters are caught in the act, and shows how one crime can multiply into 10.
Moosh
Israel, 28 mins.
A policeman with a crumbling marriage and an often-absent wife finds an abandoned baby in an alley one night. He takes the child home to look after until Social Services opens. Taking care of the infant brings about a touching reconciliation between husband and wife.
Brownie Points
Canada (B.C.), 6 mins.
Trixie Veronica is the world’s oldest living Brownie. At 30, there is a whole lot more to earning badges and doing good deeds than we have been led to believe.
40 Years of Making Movies
Canada, 2 mins.
This short celebrates the Directors Guild of Canada’s 40 th anniversary, capturing the essence of what the Guild is all about and what it stands for.
Lemonade
Canada, 17 mins.
A dark comedic tale of the horrific events that perpetuate life in a small southern town.
Death’s Dream
Canada, 15 mins.
In the aftermath of a car accident, a man meets a woman he believes is his guardian angel. Together, they travel a landscape of memories in search of the truth about the life that he can't remember, falling in love in the process. But the end of this dream marks a beginning neither of them expected. Winner of five Leo awards.
Dirty Water
Canada, 30 secs.
About three young girls’ fascination with kissing boys.
Sparky D Comes to Town
Australia, 26 mins.
Sparky is planning a wild night of dancing and drug crazed debauchery. But when dad pushes him into picking up a family friend from the airport, things get complicated.
Kronen Strasse
Germany, 5 mins.
A rich hands-off look at the daily existence of director Murray Siple's 87-year-old maternal grandmother, Lina Betz who lives alone in a 16 th century row house. Lina speaks of betrayal, abandonment and family infighting with a candour only possible in a person’s last days. This short documentary surveys the pathos and loneliness of old age without straying into manipulation or emotional pornography.
Precisely Claire
Canada, 7 mins.
The winner of the Digital Film Group’s Short DV Contest screens before Lilith on Top at 4:30 p.m. Claire is going to kill Morey Whipple, an innocent tourist visiting "the greatest city in Canada." Directed by Kevin Shortt, this acerbic comedy traces the blind determination of a scorned woman, and the subsequent consequences to poor Morey.
Tickets to the Shortfest are $8.50.
