The disappearance of Perspective Canada from the Toronto International Film Festival may mark the end of an era, but as far as the programming of Canadian short films is concerned, not much has changed. TIFF 2004’s Short Cuts Canada program will feature 38 Canuck shorts (films shorter than 50 minutes) chosen from 435 submissions, with programming criteria remaining the same.

According to TIFF programmer Liz Czach, the committee looked for strong films, regardless of genre or category. ‘The Short Cuts Canada program reaffirms our commitment to supporting homegrown talent in whatever form they choose to work,’ says Czach.

Likewise, few directors among this year’s group had any comment on the change.

‘I’m just amazed that I got in and that TIFF is open to new filmmakers,’ says first-time director Debra Felstead (Stronger), ‘especially with a crowd that includes Guy Maddin and Brad Peyton [director of TIFF 2002’s hit short Evelyn: the Cutest Evil Dead Girl, back this year with A Tale of Bad Luck] and Semi Chellas (Trouser Accidents).’

Overall, the number of shorts submitted is down from 474 last year. Although one might expect there to be a higher number, with filmmaker access to ever-more-affordable digital production technology, Czach does not see the drop as significant, as the number of submissions hovers annually around 450.

The shorts that have been selected truly cover a wide spectrum, from straightforward docs to lyrical video poems, with a healthy mix of comedies in between. The filmmakers range from recent film-school grads to recipients of lifetime achievement awards, such as Pierre Hebert, the first recipient of the National Film Board’s Norman McLaren Heritage Award.

In terms of formats, Czach says, ‘there’s definitely an increase in the number of shorts that are not finishing on film – even if people shoot on film, they’re often completing on digital. We only have two films that will be shown on 16mm, and not surprisingly, they’re both experimental.’

McLaren’s influence felt

Though themes and subjects vary, one thing seems apparent – nearly 20 years have passed since his death, but the NFB’s revered animation pioneer Norman McLaren is a significant influence on several shorts. They include Between Science and Garbage, a political commentary codirected by Bob Ostertag and veteran animator Hebert, whose early talent was recognized by McLaren; Birdlings Two, by 27-year-old film student and former David Cronenberg assistant Davina Pardo, who ruminates on her father’s short career as an NFB animator with McLaren; and experimental short Mary/Me, by Kelly Egan, who drew words directly onto a soundtrack, a technique first tried by McLaren.

One of this year’s most highly anticipated shorts is Toronto director Chris Landreth’s Ryan, which focuses on another McLaren protege. Once considered one of the NFB’s brightest stars, subject Ryan Larkin made two hugely influential animated shorts, the Oscar-nominated Walking (1969) and Street Musique (1972), but soon afterwards he disappeared from the scene. Struggling with drugs and alcohol, incapable of holding down a job, Larkin’s life deteriorated to the point where he now panhandles on the street. Landreth traveled to Montreal a number of times to interview Larkin and videotaped their conversations.

‘The idea was to keep that audio portion – the authenticity of real persons’ voices talking to each other, then strip away the live-action footage of talking heads and replace that with imagery.’

Landreth and his team of animators, students from Seneca College, used the latest in animation techniques to bring the characters alive. And McLaren’s presence is felt in Landreth’s short in a more obvious way.

‘There’s one shot in Ryan where I pay a direct homage to McLaren – [from his] piece Pas de Deux. It’s a shot where young Ryan goes into a dance and you see this kind of strobe-y effect,’ the director explains.

Landreth, also an Oscar-nominated animator for his 1996 animated short The End, has a clear affinity for his subject, which shows on screen: he appears in Ryan, animated along with all the other characters. The combination of stunning visuals and a strong, moving narrative has won the animated doc several awards, including three prizes at Cannes and best Canadian short at the Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival. Not surprisingly, there is strong Oscar buzz surrounding Ryan.

Surprisingly, this will be his debut screening at TIFF. ‘I submitted Bingo, but they’re picky here,’ he quips.

Longtime TIFF regular Maddin has two shorts programmed this year: the self-explanatory Sissy Boy Slap Party (‘It wins for best title and most hilarious concept,’ says programmer Czach) and Sombra Dolorosa, described as a crazed Technicolor Mexican melodrama. The two shorts were funded by Bravo!FACT, part of a marketing plan intended to promote Maddin’s 2003 feature, The Saddest Music in the World. ‘While not being literally about Saddest Music, they seem to come from the same universe,’ says Maddin, who retained the right to re-edit the shorts, longer versions of which will screen at the festival.

This year also sees a pair of local journalists moving behind the camera. CBC Radio’s host of Definitely Not the Opera, Sook-Yin Lee, has a 10-minute entry called Girl Cleans Sink, about a couple who meet at a laundromat. Lee’s film was the product of the local 24-hours-to-make-a-flick On the Fly festival. ‘It’s a bit rough,’ says Czach of Lee’s short, ‘but it’s quite fun.’ Cameron Bailey, film critic and founder of TIFF’s Planet Africa program (and a former head of Perspective Canada), has earned a spot in this year’s lineup with Hotel Saudade, a 24-minute video essay shot in Brazil.

Though TIFF doesn’t accept shorts from other countries, there’s no shortage of subtitles in the program, reflecting the country’s diversity. The protagonists in 23-year-old York University film grad Hugh Gibson’s Hogtown Blues are Russian immigrants; Jay Field’s comedy Desastre centers on a French-speaking, beret-wearing child who is inexplicably born into a puzzled American family; and Chris Behnisch’s Elephant Shoe features a nasty girlfriend and a sullen waiter, both of whom speak Swedish.

Toronto-based Felstead, codirector of the On the Fly fest, is involved in three of the shorts programmed this year. She plays the girlfriend in Elephant Shoe, was a producer on Lee’s short, and wrote and directed Stronger, which starts out as a comedy but shifts in tone dramatically by the end of its 11 minutes. A modern-day twist on Swedish playwright August Strindberg’s The Stronger, the short is set in a beauty salon.

‘I wanted to show the universality of Stindberg’s [play] and the conflicts between women,’ says Felstead. ‘It doesn’t matter if they’re Swedish turn-of-the-century, upper-class or urban 21st-century, black everywoman. We’re still going to fight over men.’

Repeating a successful initiative TIFF brought back last year, seven shorts have been chosen to precede the screenings of feature films. Maddin can attest to the power of this kind of programming. When TIFF commissioned 10 short films by well-known Canadian directors to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2000, one shown before each screening, Maddin’s Heart of the World generated enthusiastic reviews from every direction.

‘The screening conditions for Heart of the World were extremely rare – it was literally rammed down the TIFF audience’s throats,’ Maddin says. ‘They were really there to see the feature it was playing before.’

HOTW’s success has often been credited with reigniting Maddin’s career, culminating in last year’s critical darling Saddest Music. But Maddin is one filmmaker for whom no amount of success in features will cause him to abandon the form, partly because of the challenge it represents. ‘Making a great short is more difficult than making a great feature. You’ve just got a smaller canvas and you’ve got to make each brush stroke count.’

One of the shorts will be awarded a $10,000 cash prize, sponsored by Bravo!FACT, in celebration of its 10th anniversary.