the Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival (May 31-June 4) is gearing up for its first round and will feature 100 short films from 21 countries.

Of the numerous Canadian shorts included in the festival, The Bellringer and Where River Flows will be featured as part of the twsff’s opening night gala program.

Included in the Established Directors Programme are Atom Egoyan’s Peep Show, Norman McLaren and Claude Jutra’s A Chairy Tale (Il etait une chaise) and Douglas Wilkinson’s How to Build an Igloo (Comment construire votre iglou).

John Greyson’s The Making of Monsters, Clement Virgo’s Save My Lost Nigga’ Soul, Holly Dale’s Dead Meat, Laurie Lynd’s The Fairy Who Didn’t Want to be a Fairy Anymore and Don McKellar’s Blue will be featured as part of the Canadian Film Centre Retrospective.

Closing night gala films will be announced during the festival.

Awards will be presented in five categories – animation, documentary, drama, comedy and experimental – as well as special awards.

A symposium targeting independent filmmakers and entitled Guerilla Tactics will be held June 3-4 at the Plaza II Hotel.