It worked for TIFF: The CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival is reaching for the stars with a 17th edition top-lined by short films from Spike Jonze and Arcade Fire, Neil Labute, Jonathan Caouette and the directorial debut of actress Rachel Weisz.

Grammy winners Arcade Fire will star in the Spike Jonze-directed short film Scenes From the Suburbs, which receives its Canadian premiere after a Berlin bow.

And Rachel Weisz is bringing The Thief, a Rosemary DeWitt-starring short about a thief who enters a house for money, only to find something more valuable.

Also receiving a Canadian premiere in Toronto is Mark Teitleman’s The Dark Side, a send-up of Sandra Bullock’s movie hit where Seth Meyers and football legend Peyton Manning demonstrate what happens when you mix a real NFL star with an overbearing mother.

The opening gala for the CFC shorts festival will feature mostly international hits, including Canadian premieres for Dutch filmmaker Daan Bakker’s Bukowski, American director Brent Bonacorso’s West of the Moon, and a cartoon short from Canadian director Theodore Ushev, Lipsett Diaries, which has earned a slew of competition trophies, including the Jutra Award for best animation.

In all, the Toronto festival will screen 275 shorts from 36 countries over its May 31 to June 5 run.

Festival director Eileen Arandiga said the festival is branching out this year to reach more Torontonians, with new screening venues like the CN Tower and its Towering Shorts! sidebar and a Shorts Bus, a mobile theatre.

“Short films have never been more popular. The record number of submissions received is clearly a testament to the growing popularity and importance of short film,” Arandiga added, underlining the appeal of short video exhibition on the Internet.

The CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival will also kick off this year with an open-air party on May 29 at the Yonge Dundas Square, to feature video mash-ups and a live band.

And Canadian shorts receiving a world premiere at the CFC festival include Mike Roberts’ Rumbleseat with indie rockers The Sadies providing the soundtrack, Wild Life by co-directors Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, and The Ballad of J&D by Toni-Lynn Frederick.