In 2012, the festival received 4,768 submissions from 113 countries, making it the largest short film festival in North America at that time.[3][4] The festival was described in the Canadian Encyclopedia as "a popular and productive meeting place for audiences, filmmakers, buyers and sellers interested in the art and commerce of making movies in short form",[5] and this was reflected in the Short Films Big Ideas Symposium, which featured master classes and panel discussions focused on professional development for those involved in the industry.
The Festival Mascot, Miel, watches over the 2012 launch in Dufferin Grove Park
The Worldwide Short Film Festival was founded in 1994, and operated independently under the direction of Brenda Sherwood until 2000, when the Festival was acquired by the Canadian Film Centre (CFC). The Centre brought some professional expertise[7] to the venture: Wayne Clarkson, the CFC's executive director, who was the former head of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), from 1978 to 1985.
Brenda Sherwood was replaced as festival director by Shane Smith (2000-2006). Sherwood continued to serve on the festival advisory committee for 2001 festival season.[7] Since 2001, under the direction of Shane Smith, the CFC-WSFF attendance doubled to over 15,000, and submissions increased to over 4,200. The CFC-WSFF also hosted the largest digital marketplace for short films in North America.
From 2004-to-2006, Festival Director Shane Smith, and festival researcher Peter Hasek pursued the idea of curating a 45-minute presentation of large format IMAX15/70mm short films. This presentation was to have been screened at one of the IMAX theaters in downtown Toronto, as part of the CFC-WSFF program. The effort had support from Kodak Canada and the English Animation Department of the National Film Board of Canada. The event was to be promoted with tongue-in-cheek, but in fact, as "the only presentation at the Worldwide Short Film Festival that actually uses film."
With only a dozen-or-so 15/70mm short films in existence, the long-term plan was to create a boutique distribution service and "circuit" for large format short films; with each festival offering its own pro-rated "audience choice" cash award system. The goal was to create a reliable source of income for large format short film makers.
The debut screening of the 15/70mm large format short film platter was to have been held during the Worldwide Short Film Festival, at one of the IMAX theaters in downtown Toronto in June, 2006 followed by a screening for the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, at the Science North IMAX Theater in Sudbury, Ontario in September, 2006.
Promotional sign for the LF Project: a screening of large format, 15/70mm (IMAX) short films, on display at the 2005 Worldwide Short Film Festival. For references on the Large Format Project and the production of 15/70mm short films, see these on-line archives:[8][9][10][11][12]
Following these two festival screenings, the 15/70mm platter was destined for on-going, for-profit screenings at the Western Fair IMAX Theater in London, Ontario in exchange for their help with the project. The Western Fair IMAX projection room and other facilities were to be used for print traffic co-ordination and revision work needed to assemble a 45-minute presentation of 15/70mm short films.
There were tentative plans for screening this ad hoc platter of 15/70mm short films at other IMAX theaters in Canada, and the United States, wherever the local IMAX theater had a strong partnership with their local, mainstream film festival that was similar to the working arrangement and relationship between the Cinéfest group and Science North, in Sudbury, Ontario.
The IMAX theaters in downtown Toronto wanted up to $2000/hour in theater rental fees to prepare and host a 15/70mm short film festival event, making the event unrealistic and unaffordable for CFC-WSFF organizers and patrons. And neither the Famous Players IMAX in downtown Toronto or the Cinesphere IMAX at Ontario Place were able to provide print maintenance and on-site storage for the duration of the project, April–June 2006. (At the time, most film festival entries were submitted on DVD; a reel or platter of large format (IMAX) 70mm 15-perf short films can weigh 100 kilograms or more, and requires the use of a forklift truck to move the platter from shipping dock to storage room to projection room.)
The IMAX corporate office in Santa Monica, California let it be known, throughout the IMAX theater network, that the corporation did not support the idea of a large format, 15/70mm short film circuit for its theaters, and that the corporation's priority (circa 2004–05) was the re-purposing of mainstream Hollywood feature films for use in IMAX theaters. The official IMAX distribution model consists of packaging existing IMAX feature films and selling them at a deep discount, so the WSFF's conventional festival model might have been in competition with their commercial goals.
The loss of the project's principals: WSFF Director Shane Smith left the festival, and festival researcher Peter Hasek was diagnosed with cancer.
In the end, it was determined that the scope and human resource requirements of The LF Project was so wide and deep, it would require the formation of a separate, double bottom line non-profit organization in order to fully develop, implement and maintain the goal, set forth by Shane Smith and Peter Hasek, of curating a traveling presentation of IMAX short films that was both manageable and financially sustainable.
Shane Smith retired as festival director of the CFC-WSFF after the 2006 festival season, and was replaced by former print traffic coordinator, Eileen Arandiga, who is currently the Director of Partnerships and Events at the Canadian Film Centre. Shane Smith is currently the Toronto Film Festival's Director of Special Projects.[13]
In early 2013, the Canadian Film Centre began a re-evaluation of its public activities. As part of this re-evaluation process, the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival was put on hiatus.[14]
Academy Awards Oscars qualifications, nominations and wins
Up until the 2012 film festival season, and the 2013 hiatus, the Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival offered two Academy-accredited awards. Winners of the Best Animated Short award and the Deluxe Award for Best Live-Action Short qualify to be nominated for an Oscar. From 2001-to-2012, the following short films were screened at the Worldwide Short Film Festival, and were later nominated for an Oscar.
2003 - Best Animated Short: Harvie Krumpet, directed by Adam Elliot. WINNER at the 76th Academy Awards (2004 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2003)
2003 - Best Live Action Short: Squash, directed by Lionel Bailliu. Nominated for the 76th Academy Awards (2004 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2003)
2004 - Best Animated Short: Ryan, directed by Chris Landreth. WINNER at the 77th Academy Awards (2005 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2004)
2004 - Best Documentary Short: Hardwood, by Hubert Davis and Erin Faith Young. Nominated for the 77th Academy Awards (2005 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2004)
2004 - Best Live Action Short: Wasp, directed by Andrea Arnold. WINNER at the 77th Academy Awards (2005 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2004)
2006 - Best Animated Short: The Danish Poet, by Torill Kove. WINNER at the 79th Academy Awards (2007 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2006)
2010 - Best Animated Short: The Gruffalo, by Jacob Schuh and Max Lang. Nominated for the 83rd Academy Awards (2011 ceremony for motion picture productions released in 2010)
Audience Choice
2001 – Dual Citizen, directed by Christy Garland, Canada
2002 – Three Sisters on Moon Lake, directed by Julie Kwan, Canada
2003 – The School, directed by Jonathan Hayes, Ontario
