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6/06/2011

WSFF: Awards and Best of the Fest

Agalee
Well, the 2011 Worldwide Short Film Festival has come to a close. It's been a blast: I really enjoyed the screenings and had just as much fun reviewing them. A big thanks goes out to all the staff from the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and all of the volunteers for putting on such a great festival!

On the last day of the festival, some awards were given to a few lucky filmmakers as selected by the jury of this year's festival. The winners are:

The Deluxe Award for Best Live Action Short: AgalĂ©e (Rudi Rosenberg, France)  
                Honourable Mention: Sleepless Night (Nuit blanche) (Samuel Tilman, Belgium).
The Bravo!FACT Award for Best Canadian Short: Cold Blood (Sang froid) (Martin Thibaudeau)
The Deluxe Award for Best Performance in a Live-Action Short: Aline Kolditz and Lea Kolditz in  FatherMotherChild (Daniel Karl Krause, Germany)
The Kodak Award for Best Cinematography in a Canadian Short: Ian Lagarde for Nowhere Elsewhere (Annick Blanc, Canada)  
The Panasonic Award For Best Documentary Short: I am a Girl! (Susan Koenen, Netherlands)
Best Animated Short: The Tannery (Iain Gardner, UK)
Best Experimental Short: The Death of an Insect (Kiitos, Hannes Vartiainen and Pekka Veikkolainen, Finland)
Screenplay Giveaway Prize: David Widdicombe, Wake
Telus Audience Choice Award: The Gruffalo (Jakob Schuh, Max Lang; UK/Germany)

Congrats to all the winners! My own picks for Best of the Fest are after the jump:
 
Best Overall Short and Best Animated Short:  
Something Left, Something Taken (Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata; United States)
Best Canadian Short: Choke (Michelle Latimer)
Best Live Action Short: Rhonda’s Party
Best Documentary Short: Danny & Annie
Best Performance: Julia Stiles in Sexting (Neil Labute, United States)
Honourable mention: Marguerite McNeil in Rhonda’s Party

Finally, in alphabetical order, here are my picks for the Top Ten films of WSFF:

An Act of Love (Edward Dick, UK)

Choke (Michelle Latimer, Canada)

 
Coffee and Allah (Sima Urale, New Zealand)

Danny & Annie (Tim Rauch, Mike Rauch; United States)

The Majestic Plastic Bag (Jeremy Konner, United States)

Nowhere Elsewhere (Annick Blanc, Canada)

Rhonda’s Party (Ashley McKenzie, Canada)

Something Left, Something Taken (Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata; United States)

The Tannery (Iain Gardner, UK)
Teamwork (Seo Yun Hong, South Korea)

Keep an eye out for these great films at future festivals, and hopefully we'll see more from these talented filmmakers in the years to come!