Short Film, Short Review: THE CAPTURED BIRD

A tranquil, domesticated park, shows a couple caught up in their new infant, while their six year-old daughter (round-faced Skyler Wexler, clad in white satin and bows) draws pictures with chalk on the playground. The establishing shots are held just a... More »

By Kurt Halfyard

Fantastic Fest 2011: MICHAEL Review

Do the sensibilities of Michael Haneke offend? If your answer is yes then stay far away from the directorial debut of Haneke casting director Markus Schleinzer. The first feature, Michael offers an exceedingly simple dramatic snapshot covering a period of... More »

By Dave Canfield

WSFF08: 'Japanese Spotlight: Emerging Auteur Animators' program preview

If someone were to say that the only good animations from the Japanese were the animated movies and television series coming out of the studio system they would be wrong. The Emerging Auteur Animators program is proof of that. The... More »

By Andrew Mack

WSFF08: 'Genius Party' and 'Genius Party Beyond' program preview

Animation freaks and geeks, your Tengoku has arrived. On a global scale there are few, if any, who can compare to the Japanese and their animation prowess. They are simply deities of the animated world. And when you tap into... More »

By Andrew Mack

WSFF08: 'Thai Spotlight' program preview

Really who wouldn’t like to title their program ‘Short Films Project in Commemoration of the Celebration on the Auspicious Occasion of His Majesty the King's 80th Birthday Anniversary’? But when the word count is your enemy when it comes to... More »

By Andrew Mack

WSFF08: 'Creepy' program preview

Good morning everyone! The program preview continues for the Worldwide Short Film Festival. I hope you’ve all bought your tickets, especially for anything that our lord and master Todd has programmed. Tonight we preview the second half of the Midnight... More »

By Andrew Mack

WSFF08: 'Freaky' program preview

It was only a matter of time when I was going to preview one of the programs created by Twitch's lord and master, that lovable rapscallion Todd. Now, I cannot say for sure but I will assume that in each... More »

By Andrew Mack

WSFF08: Slap 'n' Tickle program review

Time once again for another preview of part of the program of this years Worldwide Short Film Festival. Today, the safety is off and taboos are set aside as we explore the kinky side of short film with a selection... More »

By Andrew Mack

WSFF08: 'Sci-fi: Out There' program preview

Round two of our preview of this year's edition of the Worldwide Short Film Festival. Tonight we look at the Sci-fi program Sci-fi: Out There. Compiled of 9 short films and clocking in over and hour and a half the... More »

By Andrew Mack

COWBOY BEBOP Director Shinichiro Watanabe Coming To Toronto!

Big news for animation fans here in Toronto! We announced a little while back that Studio 4C's Genius Party anthology films would both be coming to Toronto as part of the Worldwide Short Film Festival in June. When the festival... More »

By Todd Brown

WSFF08: 'Shorts For Shorties' preview

The short film gods have smiled kindly upon me and I will be previewing a number of the programs for the upcoming Worldwide Short Film Festival. Tonight we start our tour with Shorts For Shorties: Into (And Out of) This... More »

By Andrew Mack

The Worldwide Short Film Festival in Trailer Form ...

My lords and masters at the Worldwide Short Film Festival - I programmed the Midnight sections and helped bring in the Genius Party anthologies as well as the series of Thai short commemorating the King of Thailand's 80th birthday... More »

By Todd Brown

WSFF08: Get Ready For A Massacre! A PSYCHO HILLBILLY CABIN MASSACRE!

A van of attractive college students heading into the remote woods? It can only mean one thing: time for a bloodbath! Robert Cosnahan's Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre is exactly what you think it is: a loopy, blood soaked splatter comedy... More »

By Todd Brown

WSFF08: FRANKIE Trailer

In the official selection at the 2008 Worldwide Short Film Festival Ivan McCullough's Frankie looks to be one solid piece of work - a film that takes a pretty serious subject and reframes it in a way that makes it... More »

By Todd Brown

WSFF08: THE OBJECT Trailer

As we lead up to the launch of the 2008 Worldwide Short Film Festival here in Toronto I'm finally getting the chance to sort through some of the films appearing in other people's programs - I was responsible for the... More »

By Todd Brown

Leading Voices in Global Cinema

Todd Brown, Founder & Editor Toronto
Peter Martin, Managing Editor Dallas
Ryland Aldrich, Festivals Editor Los Angeles
James Marsh, Asian Editor Hong Kong
Brian Clark, European Editor Paris

Jason Gorber's Cineruminations: On MAN OF STEEL, SuperJesus, and THIS IS THE END's Jewpocalypse

Back in 1933, while Hitler was ascending into power in Germany and diasporic Jews throughout the world looked on with concern, two high school students created one of the most indelible mythical heroes of the last century. Borrowing from the Nietzschean concept of the Übermensch, Joe Shuster and Jerry... More »

Twitchvision: Talking MAN OF STEEL and THIS IS THE END

This is the big week of Superman's return, with Zack Snyder's take on the caped saviour hitting our screens. While my opinion's kind of mixed on the film, there's still plenty to admire about it. I also discuss the overt Jesus imagery throughout, as expanded in a full cineruminations column... More »

70s Rewind: Bridges, Barbra, Bogdanovich, Brynner

Amazon's Prime Instant streaming service is not as well-established as Netflix and has far more modest offerings in off-beat and strange cinema. Still, since I temporarily dropped Netflix, I've been diving deeper into Amazon's catalog, and discovered a good number of films from my favorite movie decade. Here's a selection... More »

LA Film Fest 2013: Twitch Picks 12 Must-See Films

It's LA Film Fest time with LA's downtown fest kicking off tonight with Pedro Almodovar's I'm So Excited. Twitch will be on hand with a small crew to bring you news and reviews from around the fest. You can follow us on twitter at @TwitchFilm | @BenUmstead | @AlexKoehne... More »

Jason Gorber's Cineruminations: On Shyamalan, SHE'S ALL THAT and a Preponderance for Pigeonholing

Part of the (heated) discussion about my take on After Earth surrounded the dicey proposition, popularized by the "Cahiers du Cinema" crowd in the 50s, that a director's work is to be considered part of a continuous process of development, an oeuvre with authorial consistency.Frank Zappa called it "conceptual continuity",... More »