As always, the films at the Canadian Film Fest were preceded by a short film. Sadly, I wasn’t able to see all the short that screened at CFF this year, but I will still provide my thoughts on the few I did end up seeing.
Rainfall
An animated romance following Jessica (Molly C. Quinn) on her first date. I have to say that Rainfall has a very unique animation style, with the characters being animated in front of live action backgrounds. Utilizing a multiple part structure, the film covers this romance from the first texts to the awkward final chat. Definitely a sweet little film.
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Companionship
From he Darwin Corporation comes the ultimately matchmaking service Companionship, which will provide you the final special someone you ever seen. This short, which combines science fiction with online dating, features multiple adds for this matchmaking service, while also showing how the experience with this matches truly is. Companionship leads towards a darkly humorous conclusion and builds a universe surrounding the Darwin Corporation, which will be explored in future films by the filmmakers.
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Magic Mushrooms
Karina (Alyssa Capriotti), Michael (Aris Tyros), and Desmond (Aaron Hale) have a very unique response to taking hallucinogenic mushrooms. Magic Mushrooms is comedic short with a simple premise that seems right out of the film Freaky Friday. The short is also notable for it sensual shots of drug taking and the animations that shows the mushrooms taking effect. The film is definitely cute.
FAIR
Tuesday, 10:08 AM
Following a police shooting in a diner, a SIU investigator, who was also a witness to the event, goes through the various video footage to break down how the events played out. Loosely inspired by a real police shooting that happened in Toronto, Tuesday, 10:08 AM can be described as a “video editing detective story,” as the events of the shooting are played out from multiple different perspectives, which is actually quite well constructed.
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