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Short Fuse

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We are excited for VIFF audiences to experience this special program of innovative and eye-opening animated and experimental shorts from across Canada. These works were each selected for the ways they inspire new approaches to the moving image on screen, for their visually evocative storytelling, and in many cases for how they re-imagine compelling perspectives, histories, memories and formative life experiences. Together they offer a mesmerizing collection for the next generation of filmmakers.

 

October 7: Q&A with the film teams

 

This short film program includes the following films:

Two One Two
Shira Avni, QC (5 min)

Created by award winning filmmaker Shira Avni this deeply intimate, handcrafted experimental animated documentary explores neurodiversity, the loving bond between mother and child, and the process of (un)becoming a two-headed monster.

 


Sub Terra
Jeffrey Zablotny, ON (9 min)

A routine tree inspection unexpectedly gives way to a journey into the deep. Set in a hidden subterranean world, a mysterious perspective is created with constantly shifting, blending animation, photogrammetry, motion capture, and live-action material.

 


Swallow Flying to the South
Mochi Lin, BC (18 min)

During the Cultural Revolution in 1976, 5-year-old Swallow is abandoned at a public boarding preschool in central Beijing. When the persimmons are ripe, Swallow masters how to cry, but doesn’t forget how to fly. Inspired by the filmmaker’s mother’s story.

 


You Feel Soft
Cameron Kletke, BC (3 min)

An exploration of love and touch by Cameron Kletke, employing different forms of graphite that bring the screen to textural life.

 


Return to Hairy Hill
Daniel Gies, QC (18 min)

Over ten years in the making, Return to Hairy Hill is an atmospheric, fictional tale of family folklore, inspired by a collection of memories about a story passed down through filmmaker Daniel Gies’ family.

 


Where Rabbits Come From
Colin Ludvic Racicot, QC (15 min)

In a dystopian world, a widowed father rabbit challenges absolute authority by trying to infuse an ounce of wonder into his daughter’s life after the mysterious disappearance of her mother. A story of resilience, love and hope in the face of darkness.

 


Two Apples
Bahram Javahery, BC/Yukon (10 min)

When a young woman leaves her homeland in search of a different future, she brings with her a single memento from her past: a ripe apple studded with fragrant cloves. A true labour of love, a tender film delivered in a richly innovative animation style.

 


In the Wake of the Cedar Tree
Towustasin, BC (24 min)

Eclectically stylized, Haida poet & videographer Towustasin creates an experimental documentary short that incorporates animation, spoken word, intimate interviews and poetic narratives to explore trauma, hope, healing and connection to land.

Director

Various

Country of Origin

Various

Year

Various

Series

VIFF Short Forum

Language

Various with English subtitles

G
102 min
Shorts

Book Tickets

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Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

The Life of Chuck

Dir. Mike Flanagan
111 min

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VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Graduate

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106 min

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VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

blur: To the End

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108 min

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VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Midnight Cowboy

Dir. John Schlesinger
113 min

Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman are street hustlers on different ends of the innocence / experience spectrum who establish something more than a business partnership in the seedy world of late 60s New York City in John Schlesinger's New Hollywood classic.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Sinners

Dir. Ryan Coogler
137 min

This year's unexpected box office sleeper is that rare beast, a genre movie full of bold invention and surprise. We are in Mississippi in the early 1930s, and the opening of a new blues joint on the edge of town is the signal for all hell to break out.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Headless Woman

Dir. Lucrecia Martel
87 min

The pictures tell the story -- and you better not blink -- when Veronica (the superb Maria Onetto) hits something on the road home. But what? She is too traumatized, or panic-stricken, to go back and look, and her fears are too terrible to acknowledge.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre