2008 PROGRAMS

Opening Gala: AWARD WINNERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Uncork the champagne and hand over the statuettes – the world’s most celebrated films are coming to Toronto! Enjoy the year’s most acclaimed live-action, documentary, experimental, and animated shorts from festivals across the globe.

Official Selection 1: I HAVE A DREAM
Reuniting with your lover, becoming a dad, killing the man who squashed you with a clock – it’s good to have a goal. Laugh, cry, and commiserate as this cast of characters all try to make their dreams come true.

Official Selection 2: CRIME & PUNISHMENT
Sometimes only a second separates a look that could kill from hands that actually do. Witness some of the most unusual suspects in these exciting thrillers and deviously
criminal delights.

Official Selection 3: HOLD ME, THRILL ME, KISS ME, KILL ME
Finding love can drive you crazy, and once you get it, it can be an even shorter trip. Lose your senses, abandon yourself to passion, and fall in love all over again with these valentines to the mad things we do for love.

Official Selection 4: CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL
Dogs, seals, birdies, and stags run wild in the zoo of these animal films. Give in to your natural instincts, howl with laughter, and outfox the plots of these tailwaggingly good shorts.

Official Selection 5: A BRIEF HISTORY OF OUR TIME
What a difference a minute, a day, or a decade makes. Famous places get revisited, historical events get a fresh spin, and characters from the past and future pay a visit in these fun and poignant time warps.

Official Selection 6: TEENLAND
Kids are a bundle of joy. Teenagers? Well, they’re a load of something else. Who else can tell you they hate you and ask for a ride at the same time? Laugh, cry, and throw a tantrum with this loving brood of sweethearts and heart attacks.

Official Selection 7: THIS SPORTING LIFE
Wrestle with your conscience, hike through a political minefield, and pump up your love life. These short sprints will get your pulses racing and work out your funny bones. Sorry, no speedos allowed.

Official Selection 8: THE GREAT ESCAPE
Stuck in a rut, trapped under the ice, or caught in a modern-day egg-laying fable nightmare, everyone needs to escape their lives once in a while. Heroic, comedic, and dramatic, enjoy these quick getaways from the everyday.

Official Selection 9: FATHER’S DAY
As the man you always turn to – or the man you fear turning into – the Father Figure is a powerful character. From Walt Cleavers to cleaver-wielders, spend Father’s Day with these memorable dads as they redefine, ruin, and reassure their families in this selection of shorts.

Official Selection 10: I WANNA BE ADORED
Whether it’s hitting the big time, a fleeting 15 minutes, or just one adoring fan, everyone wants to be a star. Enjoy the drama queen, dream-chasing, and spotlight-hounding stories of what some will do to be the centre of attention.

Official Selection 11: HUMAN RESOURCES
Some people “are” what they do, while others play at 9 to 5. Take a break from your daily grind with these hard-working dramas and comedies starring a staff of quirky accountants, eccentric writers, and personal slaves.

Official Selection 12: WATCH WHAT YOU EAT
Sweet, sour, spicy, and salty – these food films are so delicious, we bet you can’t watch just one. Rich and flavorful, our menu features fare suitable for both comedy
and drama-rich diets.

Japanese Spotlight: GENIUS PARTY
The first anthology of original work from ST UDIO 4°C, the Japanese animation studio famed for their work on THE ANIMATRIX and the upcoming BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT. Features new work from COWBOY BEBOP’s Shinichiro Watanabe.

Japanese Spotlight: GENIUS PARTY BEYOND
The second feature-length anthology from Japanese production house STUDIO4°C features new work from the best and brightest in the world of animation. If you don’t know STUDIO4°C, you don’t know anime.

Japanese Spotlight: EMERGING AUTEUR ANIMATORS
2008 marks the 80th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and Japan, and what better way to celebrate than through the universal language of film? National Film Board of Canada animation producer Michael Fukushima and Judy Gladstone of CTVglobemedia’s Bravo!FACT curate this program of shorts from a country that brings the world some of its most remarkable animation.

THAI SPOTLIGHT
Ranging from obvious homages to a beloved king to works that simply celebrate living gracefully, these shorts in celebration of Thailand’s monarch display a national cinema bursting with talent, fearlessly blending traditional and modern arts.

Film School Spotlight: UNIVERSIDAD DEL CINE
Argentina: land of the pampas, beautiful race horses, and the sexy tango! This year’s film school spotlight showcases a selection of short films from the internationally acclaimed Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires.

CFC 20th Anniversary: SHORT DRAMATIC FILMS
It’s been 20 years since the CFC first opened its doors to talent. Over 1000 alumni later, the CFC is still launching Canada’s most creative voices in film, television, and new media. Join us for a screening of the five works created as part of the Short Dramatic Film Program in 2007. Congratulations to the CFC!

National Screen Institute: DRAMA PRIZE WINNERS
This fresh and eclectic crop of award-winning films debuts at WSFF 2008. Filmmakers will be in attendance, so don’t miss the opportunity to meet Canada’s best and brightest emerging talent!

Oh! Canada: CANADIAN COMEDY SHORTS
There are a lot of Canadian things that aren’t intentionally funny, like Stephen Harper’s haircut, eating beaver tails, and the metric system. But these homegrown comedies will sure as H-E-double-hockey-sticks have you laughing.

THE NEU EUROPE
Borders are flying open, economies are morphing, and governments insist that progress is raising everyone’s boats. But with such massive change affecting so many different cultures on one tiny continent, the growing pains are dramatic, comical, and very real. Take a trip across the changing face of the new Europe with these eye-opening films.

Shorts For Shorties: INTO (AND OUT OF) THIS WORLD!
Shorts for Shorties is a family affair at WS FF 2008! This colourful assortment of films is geared to the young and the young-at-heart. Travel to magical places both near and far, real and imaginary - without even leaving your seat.

Accidentally Funny: ORDER IS RESTORED
Controversy and chaos abound as Accidentally Funny returns with a collection of vintage shorts fully warranted* to help logic and reason triumph over…everything! (*Warranty no longer valid, although you will leave this screening secure in the knowledge that you are, indeed, a mammal.)

Scene Not Herd: MUSIC VIDEOS
Scene Not Herd storms back for its fifth year with an array of music videos seldom seen beyond the confines of your YouTube video player. But like the soul, rock, hip-hop, and electronic sounds that lend them inspiration, the visions offered up by this year’s line-up of filmmakers are far too great to be contained by any small screen.

CELEBRITY SHORTS
Hollywood’s A-List comes to Toronto this year! Whether taking creative risks as actors in new roles or stretching their artistic muscles behind the camera, these
outstanding shorts prove that talent has no bounds.

Sci-fi: OUT THERE
Oh the humanity! And the non-humanity! Love, death, and the search for meaning are all on display, so enter our 2D holoimaging facility (okay, the Cumberland Cinemas) for a stellar dose of alien invasions, flirtations with immortality, extraterrestrial existential angst, and extremely well-fitted lab coats.

SLAP ‘N’ TICKLE
Girls who gotta have it, boys who can’t keep their hands off them (or each other), a six-foot penis, and a horny dinosaur share their saucy stories in this year’s naughty line up of sexy shorts.

Midnight Mania: CREEPY
Get ready to squirm with eight disturbing short films from as far away as Russia and Norway and as close as right here in Toronto. The zombie apocalypse, French were-creatures, serial killers…we got it all and more.

Midnight Mania: FREAKY
The world can be a very strange place and we’ve got the cinematic proof. Abused flora, hybridized fauna, alien mind control, and the shocking side effects of radioactive
beverages are all captured on film.