‘You can say a lot in a short amount of time,’ says Eileen Arandiga, director of the CFC’s Worldwide Short Film Festival. And apparently she’s not the only one who believes that – the lineup outside Toronto’s Bloor Cinema for the fete’s opening gala reached around the block as the festival pulled back the curtain on its 15th edition.

In the end, the CORE Digital Pictures Award for best live-action short went to France’s Nicolas Silhol for his film My Name Is Dominic (Tous les enfants s’appellent Dominique). The award comes with a $5,000 prize and makes the short eligible for the 2009 Academy Awards. An honorable mention went to Joost Van Ginkel of the Netherlands for the film Sand.

Aparna Kapur took the Jackson-Triggs Award for best emerging Canadian filmmaker for the animated Amma. The Kodak Award for best cinematography in a Canadian short was given to Miroslaw Baszak for The Water.

Speaking to Playback after the screening, Canadian Film Centre founder Norman Jewison summed up the appeal of short films: ‘I believe the intensity on the screen in a short film is so much more exciting than many long features. And with so many screens in the world, on airlines, phones, short films really have a place in our lives,’ he said.

This year’s fest ran June 16-21 and included 295 films from 46 countries, with almost 4,000 shorts taking part in the festival’s marketplace.