From Spielberg to von Trier to Natali (as in Vincenzo), most successful filmmakers start out with shorts, and the 13th annual Canadian Film Centre Worldwide Short Film Festival, which kicks off June 12, gives auds, whether there for business or pleasure, their chance to get in on the ground floor.

The 300-plus buyers, distributors and filmmakers at the fest get to work the largest short film market in North America with a Marketplace Guide that provides info on all 3,131 entries and a full-service Screening Library, as well as the Short Films, BIG IDEAS Symposium of 14 workshops, panels and seminars, now in its seventh year.

And then there’s the official lineup of 250 shorts from 30 countries. The 90-minute themed groupings kick off with the Opening Gala of award winners, featuring Berlin Golden Bear winner Contact, from Hanro Smitsman, and Torill Kove’s Oscar winner The Danish Poet.

The official selection of films in competition opens with the North American preem of Josh Raskin’s I Met the Walrus and includes Christmas in Huddersfield from the U.K.’s Peter Spence, Waiting for Arif from Didem Yilmaz (a Turkey/U.S. copro), and Cannes selection Madame Tutli-Putli, by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski.

Other programs include a selection of sexy shorts called Slap ‘n’ Tickle, the weird and wonderful that is Midnight Mania, and Celebrity Shorts, which are made by or feature household names such as Jennifer Aniston, who, along with Andrea Buchanan, directs Room 10 (a Canadian premiere).

Also in this series are Andrew Zuckerman’s High Falls, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgard, and Isabella Rossellini’s Oh La La. Look also for Lance Armstrong and Rainn Wilson (The Office) in Lance Is a Jerk from Mark Teitelman, and Seth MacFarlane and Alexis Bledel in Life Is Short, directed by Ricki Lindhome.

There’s also Scene Not Herd, featuring new and cutting-edge music videos, the self-explanatory Laughing at Americans: New Voices of American Comedy, Shorts for Shorties for kids and youth, Sci-Fi: Out There, and a blooper reel called Accidentally Funny.

This year’s national spotlights are trained on the Nordic countries: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland, and on the Irish National Film School. The festival runs through June 17.

www.worldwideshortfilmfest.com