It’s difficult to talk about this year’s Shorts Not Pants festival for, well, reasons. And the first few shorts I’m seeing this year are so good that I wish there were more shorts blocks. Nonetheless, let’s begin reviewing these shorts before I think about how life is doing whatever it does. It waits for us.

The first short is I’m Not a Robot from director Victoria Warmerdam, about one of those tests where one has to prove they’re not a robot by clicking on pictures of a crosswalk. Our protagonist, Lara (Ellen Parren), fails one of those, a failure that bugs her during her work day. The short labels itself as a dramedy even if it’s heavier on the latter. It’s an approach but it makes sense because I am a man. Lara’s angst towards the possibility of being a robot makes sense as a woman in a man’s world because does she only exist because of her shit bag boyfriend, and is her boyfriend a poop bag? Thekla Reuten (In Bruges, Red Sparrow?!) co-stars as Pam, an eerie robot facilitator.

Alyson Richards creates warmth for the block’s next short I Was Here, about a woman recovering from breast cancer. The subject, Emma Phelan, details what normally happens to breast cancer survivors. Specifically, that most of them get breast reconstruction from stomach tissue, a procedure that normally happens a year after the initial mastectomy. Phelan, then, narrates that doctors do enough poking on her body. She instead decides to get a tattoo and have an official photoshoot of her new body. A lot of mirror shots capture Phelan’s confidence. The documentary captures a woman having self determination while collaborating with others.

An old Quebecoise, Claude (Carmen Sylvestre), is the protagonist in the block’s next short, Stéphanie Bélanger’s Lumen. After trying to buy a lamp from Anne So, a younger woman, Carmen puts on her Sunday best only for the former to say that someone else bought it. Casta Diva plays in the background, foreshadowing Claude’s turn into a dramedy version of the OG Medea. There’s a touch of Akerman in this short that fits into ‘if I had a dollar’ cinema. It belongs to two microgenres – the first of those is the ‘cyberstalker Quebecoise’ one and the second is the ‘Canadian old weirdo one’. Fascinating stuff that makes viewers sympathise with both characters.

Michael-David McKernan does quadruple duty as actor, director, producer, and screenwriter in Wake, where he plays two versions of himself. The first is a lively younger man spending time with his girlfriend and the second is him on a ship with his dad, using binoculars to look out onto the sea. Effective cinematic language helps viewers connect the dots – that his girlfriend is out on that sea. It uses, with great economy, to explain further details of a short and bittersweet life as, spoiler alert, the girlfriend chooses to die by suicide instead of suffer through a terminal illness. Am Irish short that moves on its own pace without bogging itself down, giving characters life when necessary.

Moving from the elegiac, we have Cici Clancy’s Ephemera, where the vibe isn’t necessarily the polar opposite but it’s different enough. It comtemplates insect life, seasonal in North Bay, where the vibe is both horny yet existential. A woman, Robin, (Kelly Lamb) who has a porn and sex addiction gets a visit from her best friend. This short is basically my autobiography so I’m suing Clancy. But seriously, a lot of cinema about porn and sex makes both look bad. The film doesn’t demonise those things but shows that there are bad examples of both but also good ones. The visit turns out to not be what the protagonist wants but what she probably needs, which we all do sometimes. 

Life is precious in this block’s last short, Jessica Hinkson’s Sara. There, the titular character (Samora Smallwood) makes a phone call to her doctor to set up a follow-up appointment. She does it even though she might not make that appointment. This is because she finds herself in an airport for hours. Her plane has technical difficulties while needing to presumably get to someone close to her. Speaking of, there are a lot of close-ups here, a lot of blurry shots on purpose, Wong Kar Wai-esque shots of people moving quickly while Sara is at a standstill. Good slice of life short. It’s also relatable to those of us who’s first instinct is to think of the worst even if the best is yet to come.

More info on this block’s one night engagement here.

Cr. Arielle Skolnik © 2024.