Here are a few more short films playing the TIFF Short Cuts Programme that are worth checking out.
My Boy
Dir. Sarah Pellerin
It is the night of his brother’s bachelor party and Louis has no desire to partake in the festivities planned. Sitting with a sullen look on his face, he quietly observes as his brother is subjected to a series of embarrassing moments. Things really come to a head when the bride-to-be arrives home from her bachelorette party and catches his brother in an awkward position. Steeped in extremely dark humour, and throwing us into the middle of the story, Pellerin’s film offers a searing look at toxic masculinity. The toxicity spreads like a virus, not only exposing the foibles within the men, but bringing out the worst in the women as well. Using Louis, and his unnamed female equivalent with the bachelorette group, to represent the audience, Pellerin purposely making the viewer increasingly uncomfortable every step of the way, My Boy is a dark comedy that you will not easily forget
My Boy screens as part of Shot Cuts Programme 04
Saturday, September 8, 10:15 PM, Scotiabank
Friday, September 14, 9:45 PM, Scotiabank
Fuck You
Dir. Anette Sidor
Fed up with being seen as merely a delicate object of desire by her boyfriend, Alice (Yandeh Sallah) decides to challenge the young man’s notions of masculinity and power in an unexpected way. Publicly wearing a strap-on that Alice and her friends recently stole, she is determined to challenge her boyfriend’s views on gender, sex and control. An empowering tale anchored by Yandeh Sallah’s fierce performance, Sidor’s film explores the fragility of masculinity in a captivating way. As Alice grows more confident and defiant with each passing moment, the film shows how quickly her boyfriend becomes unhinged. Showing the importance of dismantling the toxic notions of gender roles in teenage boys, Sidor constructs a powerful reminder that female empowerment and equality coexisting should be embraced not feared.
Fuck You screens as part of Shot Cuts Programme 05
Sunday, September 9, 10:15 PM, Scotiabank
Saturday, September 15, 6:30 PM, Scotiabank
Accidence
Dir. Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson
A visually stunning work that gets the brain racing in exhilarating ways, the latest work from Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson is one of the festival’s must-see films. Playing like a Hitchcockian thriller taking place all in the same frame, Accidence is unlike anything you have seen before. The film starts off focusing on a man sitting on a balcony. His entire head it bandaged and there is evidence of some sort of head injury. As the camera pans out, we get a clear view of all the other balconies in the building and the various activities occurring. As characters move around and interact with other individuals in different balconies, the clues explaining how the bandaged man ended up that way begins to fall into place. Ensuring that no moment is wasted, even the minor details are fascinating to observe, Accidence is a film that overflows with creativity and style.
Accidence screens as part of Shot Cuts Programme 08
Tuesday, September13, 9:30 PM, Scotiabank
Saturday, September 16, 7:15 PM, Scotiabank
7A
Dir. Zachary Russell
Sometimes a film works best when it leaves the audience to do all the heavy lifting. Such is the case with Zachary Russell’s short film 7A. Very little is explained, we never even learn the characters names, however, that does not make it any less captivating. What we do know is that a woman (Kayla Lorette) is making a video at home when the maintenance man (Tom Rooney) arrives unexpectedly to fix a filter. As a parade occurs outside, sirens go off and coloured gas starts emerging from the sink and vents. Though this appears to be a regular occurrence, things get rather tense when the man realizes that he left his mask at the previous job, and the only one in the woman’s apartment is the one she is wearing. Managing to ratchet up maximum tension from a simple premise, Russell crafts a film that keeps the viewers on their toes. Showing how easily our societal norms can decompose in moments of crisis, 7A is both unnerving and wonderfully thought-provoking at the same time.
7A screens as part of Shot Cuts Programme 06
Sunday, September 9, 9:45 PM, Scotiabank
Saturday, September 15, 9:15 PM, Scotiabank
