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| Sid the Pike |
Are you in Toronto this weekend and looking for something
that the whole family can enjoy? Well, you’re in luck. To help kick off this
year’s Worldwide Short Film Festival, the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) invites
you to two FREE film screenings in
Dufferin Grove Park. The first – and more family-oriented – programme is “Shorts
for Shorties: Flick-Nic,” which screens at noon. The second programme, “Christmas
in June” (reviewed here) is suitable for general audiences, but younger viewers
might not appreciate the films as much. Everyone, though, will delight in how “Flick-Nic”
shares the magic of movies and lets you be a kid again, even if it’s only for
one day.
What does a cat say? What does a dog say? Does the cow go
“moo”? “Flick-Nic” opens with a fun film from Down Under that’ll have everyone
in the park bobbing their heads and practicing their animal noises. Animal
Beatbox (Australia, 3 min.) is a funky roll-call of the animal kingdom,
with creatures of every kingdom, phylum, class and whatever joining in for
a big hip-hop powwow of animal pride. It teaches kids the whole zoo in a mere
three minutes! Is there a better way to educate your child? The next film, Sid
the Pike (Gäddan Sid) (Sweden, 10 min.), takes the kids to fish school
and gives them a great look at life under the sea. The film, directed by Tony
Holm, boasts some incredible underwater cinematography that follows one pike
(named Sid) in his daily life in his lake. Sid
the Pike looks like an observational documentary, but thanks to some expert
cutting, shot/reverse shot, and point-of-view camerawork, the film transforms
into an engaging narrative of the water’s food chain. Some scenes of Sid on the
hunt might be too much for the wee ones; however, Sid’s post-catch happy-dance
always keeps the mood lively. (I wonder if Sid sings “Les poissons” as he
enjoys the catch of the day?)
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| Acorn Boy |
If the reality of the food chain scares some little viewers,
the next short should easily pick them back up. Stella and Sam: “Nightfairies”
(Canada, 12 min.) is a segment of the popular television show Stella and Sam. Based on the series of
children’s books by Marie-Louise Gay, Stella and Sam: Nightfairies gives kids the joy of seeing some familiar
faces on the big screen. It’sfamily-friendly fun that teaches kids the joys of the
outdoors – the perfect lesson from a screening in the park, eh? It has a really
cute doggy, too. There are funny animals galore in Acorn Boy (Ziluks)
(Latvia, 10 min.), which screened previously at the
Berlin Film Festival. Acorn Boy gives an imaginative look at life in the insect world when one little
acorn goes exploring and stumbles into a beehive. Kids will love the eccentric stop-motion
animation and the little bippity-bop noises the animals make. This is
definitely an animal film of the “Happy Working Song” type.
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| The Gruffalo's Child |
Before moving on to the main course, “Flick-Nic” serves up
the quick fairy tale Four (Italy 3 min.) that sees a
little fairy wake up for a new season of housework. Four gives way to the main attraction of “Flick-Nic”, The
Gruffalo’s Child (UK, 26 min.). Not only was the 2009 short The Gruffalo an acclaimed Oscar-nominee
for Best Animated Short, but it also scooped the Audience Award at last year’s
Worldwide Short Film Festival. The
Gruffalo’s Child is a worthy follow-up to its predecessor: it’s just as fun
and magical as the last Gruffalo.
Helena Bonham Carter leads an impressive cast of voice talent that includes
John Hurt, Tom Wilkinson and Robbie Coltrane, and she plays a mother squirrel that
tells her children a story to explain the origin of some new footprints that
appear around the forest. These prints, she says, belong to the Gruffalo’s
child. The Gruffalo’s child, she explains, is an inquisitive little beast, so
her father, the Gruffalo, tells his child a story about the big bad mouse in
the woods that might catch her if she strays too far. Growing “curiouser and
curiouser” (as Alice might say), the Gruffalo’s child wanders out into the
woods in search of the mouse. Shirley Henderson (Meek’s Cutoff) puts her signature squeaky voice to good use and voices
the interested junior Gruffalo; she provides a great little beast that should
easily captivate the kids in the audience, as will the lovely animation, sprightly
score, and cute little critters that make the film such a winner. Adults will love
the film for the same reasons, but they’ll also appreciate the clever rhyming
scheme that connects the dialogue and the narration. A fable about the joy of
storytelling, The Gruffalo’s Child is
a perfect end to the “Flick-Nic” that will have parents snuggling up with their
kids and basking in the sunlight and the warm whimsy of the film. The Gruffalo’s Child is easily the
standout among the films at “Flick-Nic” so might the Gruffalo triumph as a
back-to-back audience favourite? We’ll have to see! The festival officially
starts June 5, so we’ll keep you posted as to where this gem stands!
“Flick-Nic” screens
at Dufferin Grove Park on Sunday, June 3 at noon.
“Christmas is June” screens Sunday, June 3 at 9:00 pm.
Once again, admission
is FREE.
Please visit www.shorterisbetter.com for tickets,
program/film info, and show times.
(And check back here for updates & reviews of this year's Worldwide Short Film Festival.)
(And check back here for updates & reviews of this year's Worldwide Short Film Festival.)
