This year’s edition of Short Cuts Canada includes 41 titles from Canadian artists – all of which will be available to view online during the fest. And while there’s a raft of new directors, a few shorts are from veteran directors such as John Greyson who is experimenting here with Covered; Guy Maddin with Night Mayor and Oscar-winning helmer Chris Landreth who is back with The Spine.

5 Dysfunctional People in a Car — Pat Mills, ON (5 min.)
A family takes their reluctant grandma to a nursing home against her wishes.

75 El Camino — Sami Khan, ON (19 min.)
Set in Sarnia’s Chemical Valley, a red-hot Chevy El Camino is the last prized possession of a passionate couple who have lost everything, including their house.

The Armoire — Jamie Travis, ON (22 min.)
A young boy descends into an abyss of secrets, fantasies and memory when he realizes that his best friend has gone missing.

Big Head — Dylan Akio Smith, BC (12 min.)
Ten-year-old Billy takes action into his own hands when he is bullied by the kids in school about his large cranium.

La Chute — Ivan Grbovic, QC (17 min.)
A young teacher interferes in her student’s home life, as her desire to be a mother negatively effects her professional conduct.

Covered — John Greyson, ON (14 min.)
An inspired experimental documentary on the violent closing of the first Queer Sarajevo Festival from award-winning filmmaker John Greyson.

Danse Macabre — Pedro Pires, QC (9 min.)
A corpse enacts a final erratic ballet in this exquisite experimental dance film.

De Mouvement — Richard Kerr, QC (6 min.)
A frenetic collage film constructed around wipes found in French movie trailers from the monochrome era.

Deadman — Chelsea McMullan, ON (30 min.)
Two disparate visions of the ‘west’ are portrayed in this elegant and keenly observed documentary.

Edge of the Desert — Lea Nakonechny, QC/SK (16 min.)
Four young adults end up wandering through the sand hills of Saskatchewan, a desert-like landscape, and discover that their dreams don’t always match their realities.

Fish in Barrel — Randall Okita, BC (5 min.)
A visually stunning experimental film focused on a young man’s psychological struggle.

Found — Paramita Nath, ON (6 min.)
Found is a compelling meditation on connecting with one’s past, based on Souvankham Thammavongsa’s poetry and life.

A Hindu’s Indictment of Heaven — Dev Khanna, ON (12 min.)
A charming tongue-in-cheek drama about a woman who waits outside the gates of heaven for her soulmate.

Homeland Security — Isaac Cravit, ON (8 min.)
A customs agent brings his personal life to work when confronted by a bachelorette party headed south of the border.

IKWÉ — Caroline Monnet, MB (4 min.)
A film about a young Algonquin woman reconnected with her ancestral roots through language and dance.

Interview with the Earth — Nicolas Pereda, ON/Mexico (18 min.)
In a small rural Mexican town, two young brothers deal with loss and grief when their friend tragically and suddenly dies.

The Island — Trevor Anderson, AB (5 min.)
A ‘fantasy island’ for gay people is imagined by a director fed up with homophobia.

Léger Problème — Hélène Florent, QC (9 min.)
In this visually inventive short, a man deals with severe gravitational issues while he tries to go about his day.

M — Félix Dufour-Laperrière, QC (7 min.)
A hypnotic, abstract animated film that plays with delicately hand-drawn structures.

Man V. Minivan — Spencer Maybee, ON (17 min.)
A comedy about one groom’s case of cold feet after receiving a minivan from his future in-laws.

My Toxic Baby — Min Sook Lee, ON (45 min.)
Filmmaker Min Sook Lee struggles to protect her daughter from our chemical world in this intimate and alarming documentary.

Naissances — Anne Émond, QC (17 min.)
A thoughtful and tender tale about two strangers who find hope and comfort in lies.

Night Mayor — Guy Maddin, MB (10 min.)
Maddin’s newest film about an inventor known as the ‘Night Mayor’ of Winnipeg is told with his visually inventive and subversively comic style.

On a Lonely Drive — Igor Drljaca, ON (7 min.)
A young boy hides in the trunk of his family’s car to get away from his arguing parents.

Out in that Deep Blue Sea — Kazik Radwanski, ON (16 min.)
A middle-aged real-estate agent finds himself malcontented with his current life of too much work and not enough time.

Pointless Film — Peter Wellington, ON (4 min.)
Two men haggle over the price of a used futon in this comedic short.

Record — Dylan Reibling, ON (4 min.)
A sidewalk record sale takes an unexpected turn in this charming portrait.

Runaway — Cordell Barker, MB (9 min.)
A zany and sumptuously animated tale about a reckless train ride from award-winning animator Cordell Barker.

Sixty Seconds of Regret — Ed Gass-Donnelly, ON (1 min.)
A succinct and powerful character study of an elderly man’s reflection on early life decisions.

Smoke — Nikos Theodosakis, Linda Theodosakis, BC (16 min.)
Ten-year-old Michael’s difficult father is dying and he must come to terms with their love/hate relationship.

Snow Hides the Shade of Fig Trees — Samer Najari, QC (21 min.)
Magic realism infuses this lyrically melancholic story of six immigrant men delivering flyers in Montreal.

Soap — Dusty Mancinelli, ON (15 min.)
An afternoon tryst takes a surprising twist in this darkly humorous film.

The Spine — Chris Landreth, ON (11 min.)
Dan and Mary find themselves at a co-dependent couple support group. In Mary’s absence, Dan grows a strong and colorful animated new spine.

Swimming Lesson — Caitriona Cantillon, ON (10 min.)
Kate swims circles around her mother who has only recently learned how to swim. The tension between a mother and daughter becomes explosive in this emotional short.

The Translator — Sonya Di Rienzo, ON (7 min.)
A translator of French films finds that her work has become her life as she tries to interpret what others are thinking on the subway.

Tungijuq — Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël, QC (7 min.)
A thought-provoking meditation on the seal hunt and what it means to the traditional way of life for the Inuit.

Unlocked — Mio Adilman, ON (15 min.)
A young man faces constant frustration as his bicycle is repeatedly double-locked by strangers.

La vie commence — Émile Proulx-Cloutier, QC (13 min.)
An affecting drama surrounding a stolen gun that reveals the profound bond between two brothers.

Vive la Rose — Bruce Alcock, NS/BC/QC (4 min.)
Bruce Alcock’s animated Newfoundland ode to lost love, told through the Acadian folk song Vive la Rose.

Volta — Ryan Mullins, QC (12 min.)
A decaying cinema in rural Ghana that’s been converted into a school is seen through the eyes of its former projectionist.

Vs. — Ben Bruhmuller, ON (14 min.)
The sweep of a man’s life is captured through the rounds of a boxing match in this elaborate stop-motion animated film.