Well it's a bit late but this is my quick wrap up of the Worldwide Short Festival. The festival wrapped up last week and this year seemed to be a very successful year even with the recession people still submitted their short films...myself included. They received 3900 festival submissions this year. That's a lot of short films to watch. I wasn't able to see as many films as I would have liked so I won't review them but I can tell you that a couple of films that stuck out for me on opening night were First Floor because of the masterful technical work. It was beautifully shot and the technical expertise of the shots was amazing. On the opposite end was a heart tugging film called Gone Fishing with a surprise ending that was truly sad and heartwarming. I also got to see the celebrity shorts program and saw the legendary Lauren Bacall who is still beautifully graceful.
The fun part of the festival for me was the Opening Nicht Party at C Lounge. I looked around the lovely patio on a warm summer night and realized how connected the film festival industry is and how many people it takes to support the industry. I was a volunteer a few years ago for the festival and I realized how many people I met through the festival over the couple of years that I volunteered. I had the great job of volunteering at the symposiums one year and met so many great industry people at that time who I have run into at many festivals over the years. One of the people I met at the symposiums when I was a volunteer was Jamie White from the Colorado Film Foundation who remembered me from when I was a volunteer and then on to the World of Comedy Film Festival. It was great to chat with him at the fun Quebec Party. I also met Shane Smith who now programmes for Sundance and also works for Spafax but he was the Executive Director of the Worldwide Short Film Festival when i was a volunteer. I met so many great people while volunteering way before I even thought of becoming a filmmaker myself but I am happy to say that I was inspired and learned a lot from volunteering at film festivals and I know I wouldn't be making films now if it wasn't for the experience I got while I was a volunteer.
The wrap up of the festival was the Awards BBQ at the Canadian Film Centre. It was a glorious and sunny beautiful day at the film centre and some lucky filmmakers were awarded some amazing prizes for their work but I think more than the awards I think they made a lot of friends and future connections at the festival so I know that it will generate more fabulous work in the future. Although my films weren't accepted into the festival this year I will keep trying to submit films because it is a great festival with lots of opportunities for Short Filmmakers.
I hope to attend as a filmmaker next year.. and hope to say I went from a volunteer to a filmmaker at the festival one day.
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