Thirteen Canadian world premieres have been announced as part of the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) Short Cuts programme, including films by Eva Thomas, Anubha Momin, and Karsten Wall.

The 42-film Short Cuts lineup, which also includes six other Canadian projects, comprises live action narrative, documentary and animated shorts from 23 countries, according to a news release.

Thomas’ directorial short film debut, Redlights, centres on two friends, and a standoff that ensues after one of them is abducted by a police officer.

Redlights (pictured) is written by Thomas, who is also the producer alongside Katelyn Cursio of Toronto-based prodco Carousel Pictures, and Alan Bacchus. Carousel’s Tyler Levine is the executive producer. Redlights features Kaniehtiio Horn and Ellyn Jade in lead roles.

Horn is an executive producer on another Canadian short making its world bow at TIFF: the drama Aftercare. The short by writer-director-producer Momin follows the story of an Inuk woman who is seeking to erase memories of her “difficult past.”

Aftercare is produced by Sandy Hudson and Rodney Diverlus, with Stephanie Hooker and Natty Zavitz serving as executive producers alongside Horn. It stars Maika Harper and Sofia Banzhaf.

Two National Film Board of Canada (NFB) films are also among the world premieres: Winnipeg-based Wall’s doc Modern Goose and Montreal filmmaker Marielle Dalpé’s animated short Aphasia.

Modern Goose is produced by Alicia Smith and executive produced by David Christensen for the North West Studio. The film documents the birds’ struggle for survival, mixing “beauty, humour and profound empathy.”

Aphasia is an “unsettling sensory experience that immerses us in the world of people with Alzheimer’s disease,” according to a news release from the NFB. It is produced by Marc Bertrand and executive produced by Christine Noël for the NFB’s French Program Animation Studio.

Additional Canadian shorts making world premieres include Atefeh Khademolreza’s Meteor, Halima Ouardiri’s The Skates, Kasey Lum’s Bloom, Edith Jorisch’s Mothers and Monsters, Ivan D. Ossa’s Express, Marni Van Dyk’s This is Not About Swimming, James Michael Chiang’s Xie Xie, Ollie, Jasmin Mozaffari’s Motherland and the Canada-Indonesia-U.S. copro Sawo Matang by Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto.

Four Canadian films will make their North American premiere, including Eric K. Boulianne’s Making Babies, Gaby’s Hills by Zoé Pelchat, I Used to Live There by Ryan McKenna and Alisi Telengut’s Baigal Nuur – Lake Baikal, which is a Germany-Canada copro.

Meanwhile, Miryam Charles’ All the Days of May will have its Canadian premiere and Catherine Boivin’s 6 Minutes Per Kilometer will be making its Toronto premiere at the festival.

The festival’s special presentations and galas, doc lineup, Platform selection, and Discovery programme lineup have already been announced.

The 2023 edition of TIFF runs from Sept. 7 to 17.

Photo courtesy of Eva Thomas Inc