The CFC will celebrate 25 years next year, and has graduated over 1,000 residents to date. The Short Dramatic Films is a program of 4 shorts from recent graduates.

Parkdale (15 min) is the first and best short, shot on-location in Toronto, directed by Lisa Jackson. It tells the story of a teenaged girl and her younger sister as they try to avoid another stint in foster care when Children’s Aid is onto the fact that their father is too busy getting high or into trouble to care for them. It’s well written and well performed and directed with grittiness by Jackson, making fine use of several recognizable locations in Toronto and giving the city a tough and sad feel for the kinds of folks who’ve fallen through the cracks. Terrific.

Silent Cargo (16 min) is a brutal experience that considers weeks in the life of a dozen illegal immigrants being shipped in cargo containers across the ocean. They live in filth and squalor and there is no guarantee that any of them will survive the ordeal, but it’s the chance they’ll take in order to taste a better life anywhere than where they came from. The actors go through a process that sees them clinging to their hopes of making a new beginning but who end up hoping to just survive an extraordinarily brutal trip.

Oliver Bump’s Birthday (16 min) lives in its own universe and has its own set of really strange rules, like how 12 year-old child prodigy Oliver will end up having to die on his 13th birthday, which occurs at 9 pm on the day that it happens. Do you suppose he was born at 9 pm, or is it more likely that 9 is this universe’s midnight? Oliver’s parents are nice folks, and they’ve seen their other 3 children off to death on the occasion of their birthdays as well, but Oliver doesn’t want to be just another statistic. With the help of a friend and his imagination, he is literally aiming for the stars with a secret spaceship he’s built up in the attic. Terrific acting and some interesting ideas here in a story that would find trouble trying to stretch itself out into feature territory, but that works better as a short episode.

The Secret of Goat (15 min) is such a kooky and peculiar film. You may get seriously annoyed by it, or you may find it droll with its young lovers who live out in the woods. They talk like Canadians but they go around looking like leftovers from a bad Oktoberfest commercial with their frilly costumes. He wants to love her long-time and in practically every location — indoor, outdoor, you name it. But she isn’t really into pleasures of the flesh and it causes a disturbance in the force one day as she catches him pleasuring himself out in the woods. I’m sure that’s crucial character development, but I just can’t really say how that is exactly. Anyway, they buy a goat one autumn that only he can milk, since apparently he’s got the “touch” or something, while she can only get the goat to shoot blanks. Then a funny thing happens when he starts to take on goat-like characteristics. The Secret of Goat is a must-see only because it wouldn’t be fair that I am the only one who has those images burned into my brain. You deserve them, too, so that you can then decide if this is one of the worst shorts you’ve ever seen. This one’s a turkey dressed as a goat, methinks.

- Moviejay

Check out our coverage of the WorldWide Short Film Festival:

- MovieJay Really Enjoys The ‘Celebrity Shorts’ Programme
- Douglas Breaks Down The ‘X-Ray Spex’ Programme
- MovieJay Reviews The ‘Stranger In A Strange Land’ Programme
- Now Onto The ‘Homeland Security’ Programme
- Xavierpop Takes On The ‘Someone To Watch Over Me’ Programme
- MovieJay Reviews The “All Tomorrow’s Parties” Programme
- Douglas Godhino Reviews The ‘Superfans’ Programme
- Xavierpop Takes on The “Creative Control” Programme
- MovieJay Reviews the “War, What Is It Good For?” Programme
- MovieJay Reviews ‘The Family Compact” Programme
- Next Up A Look At the ‘Iron Ladies’ Programme
- Xavierpop Covers ‘The Love Hurts’ Official Selection
- A Break-Down The ‘Who’s Your Dada?’ Programme
- MovieJay Reviews The Opening Night Gala: Winners From Around the World
- The @xvrpop Ultimate Worldwide Short Film Fest Preview
- The CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival’s Screenplay $50,000 Giveaway is Back!