 |
| Withering Love is my pick for 'Best of the Fest' |
Another year of WSFF has come to a close. I really enjoyed
attending/covering the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival again. I know that I
complained a few times that the programming was a bit too dark, but I realize
that is not necessarily a bad thing, since the films were generally strong
overall and they offered a good snapshot of a collective sense of what’s going on in
the world of filmmaking. I did not *quite* make my goal of seeing everything in
the festival, but I did manage to see 148 films. Pretty darn good, I think.
Although it was hard to limit my list of the best of the fest to ten, it was an
obvious choice for my top spot: Withering
Love by Samanou Sahlstrøm. Perhaps the only disadvantage to the
darkness of the programmes was that nothing could match the beautiful,
gratifying bleakness and grittiness of this film. To be fair, Margo Lily and Kali the Little Vampire were also heavy favourites and I found
myself recommending them throughout the festival.
Without further ado, here are my picks for the Top Ten films
of the 2012 CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival in alphabetical order:
(Dir. Philipp Kaessbohrer, Germany)
(Dir. Aly Muritaba, Brazil)
(Dir. Regina Pessoa, Canada/France/Switzerland/Portugal)
(Dir.
Jillian Mayer, Lucas Levya; USA)
(Dir. Christopher Kezelos, Australia)
(Dir. Dane Clark, Linsey Stewart; Canada)
(John Maclean, UK)
(Dir. Ross McDonnell, Ireland)
Turbulence (Mkhobbi fi kobba)
(Dir. Leyla Bouzid, France/Tunisia)
(Dir. Samanou Sahlstrøm, Denmark)
[It gets a trailer since it's my favourite!]
Honorable mentions: After the Credits, Edmond was a Donkey, Friend Request Pending, Good Night, The Gruffalo’s Child, The Little Bird and the Leaf, Odysseus’ Gambit, The Umbrella Man, Unravel, Ursus
And my own awards, just because:
★Best Film and Best Live Action Film: Withering Love
★Best Canadian Film: Margo
Lily
★Best Animated Film: Kali
the Little Vampire
★Best Documentary: Remember
Me My Ghost
★Best Performance: Emmaneulle Béart, Withering Love
Honorable mention: Maxine Peake, Deafblind
★Best Experimental Film: Gravity
of Centre
★Best Cinematography: Pitch
Black Heist
★Best Overall Programme: Official Selection - "Creative Control"
★Best Overall Programme: Official Selection - "Creative Control"
★Worst short: Snow
Canon (Dir. Mati Diop, France)
-->I
know it’s mean to do this, but this film ruined Iron Ladies for me.
Thanks to all the staff, programmers, and volunteers for
putting on another good festival!
I Hope to be there again next year.
I Hope to be there again next year.
