How Old Is the Director? 24 at the time of production.
Who Is the Director? Tommy is a story teller, his comedy improv experience feeds his need for story telling in the medium of film.
What Is It? Live Action Drama
How Long Is It? 0:29
What Is It About? What does your clothing say about you?
When Did YoungCuts Play It? 2010
What Awards Did It Win? Top 100 Short Films 2010 YoungCuts Film Festival.
Why Did We Play It? Comedy is all about timing and Beg is exactly as long as it needs to be. One beat longer would have been milking it. One beat shorter would have caused confusion and ruined the punchline. (Also's Tommy's reaction is perfect.)
Filmmaker Statement This was an exercise in making as short a film as possible with a fun payoff.
Who Made It? Written and Directed by Caroline de Konick
Where Is It From? Canada (Quebec)
How Old Is the Director? 25 (22 at the time of production)
Who Is the Director? Caroline de Koninck is born on October 22nd 1986, and raised in the suburbs of Montreal as the youngest of a family who are diversified in culture and work. Her mother is a theologian working in local parishes; her father, a retired business consultant; her brother, a mechanical engineer; and her eldest brother, a musician and journalist.
De Koninck is a young director who specializes in animated film. She did her undergraduate work at Concordia University where she produced many films that have entered several festivals around the world. She has tried her hand at several techniques including 3D computer animation, stopmotion, clay painting, and pencil drawing. Her favorite types of films revolve around a strong story, so she strives to become an inspirational storyteller with the aid of simple yet meaningful imagery. She believes that the story is of utmost importance, more than the look of the film: so her imagery is not overly detailed and every part of the image has a conceptual purpose.
De Koninck also has a passion for post-production. She worked on a NFB production in association with Warner Brothers Home video as a compositor and editor.
She will pursue her love in filmmaking and wishes to have her work shown around the world.
What Is It? Stop Motion Animation.
How Long Is It? 2:08
What Is It About? Self-Portrait: Two personalities clash as a girl tries to get her
dog to obey her commands.
When Did YoungCuts Play It? 2009
Why Did YoungCuts Play It? It's a lovely little parable about how humanity has become so mechanized and robotic that only our machines have retained their souls. The judges at YoungCuts also like to watch the progression of filmmakers from year to year and project to project. Only Human builds on what Caroline learned making Good Girl.
The judges also liked the way that the only solid things in the film were the dog and the machines, while the humans have been reduced to the visual equivalents of the adult audio squawking from the Charlie Brown cartoons.
What Awards Did It Win? Top 100 Short Films 2009 YoungCuts Film Festival
Filmmaker Statement Only Human was my first attempt at stop motion. Manipulating the character with my hands gave me a different feeling than doing so with a computer mouse, and I loved it. The idea behind this film had been in my head for ages and was fueled by the song “Utopia” by Goldfrapp.
Who Made It? Written and Directed by Sophie Choquette
Where Is It From? Montreal, Quebec, Canada
How Old Is the Director? 19 (18 at time of production)
What Is It? Claymation Music Video
How Long Is It? 4:23
What Is It About? This claymation video was done by a John Abbott student. It explores the relationships this generation has with technology, and how relationship with living beings is compromised by an addiction to technology. The piece follows a young man as his relationships with loved ones are replaced by devices and he betrays them. Technology ends up betraying him in the end.
When Did YoungCuts Play It? 2011
What Awards Did It Win? Top 100 Short Films 2011 YoungCuts Film Festival.
Why Did We Play It? We get a lot of films submitted to the Festival that break your heart, because the filmmaker went to a lot of trouble to create a film that only works because of music that they don't have the rights to use. This is heartbreaking for three reasons, first it severely limits what the filmmaker can do to showcase their talent, second, the music chosen almost always comes across as an inauthentic choice, not appropriate for what the filmmaker was trying to do. Finally, for every great young filmmaker looking for musical inspiration, there are great young musicians looking for opportunities to create music.
Sophie did it exactly right. She found a band at her school with a great song, raw with the passion of youth and she created a fantastic animated video to accompany that song. The raw energy of her animation (or if you prefer the raw inertia of her animation) matched the raw energy of the music because they were coming from the same place. The film is authentic in the way that a film by a young filmmaker that uses a 30 year old David Bowie song can never be.
Also, you have to admire a filmmaker who literally burns down her sets.
YoungCuts Statement As a quick follow-up, we should maybe explain how we ended up finding Little Black Boxes. The Festival Director Michael Ryan was invited to lead a discussion about Best Practices for Festival Submissions during the Concordia Film Festival on the Thursday afternoon that the festival started. This lead to an invitation to take part in a panel early that Saturday morning during the festival about the future of short film. One of the other panellists was DanielSchorr who teaches animation at CEGEP John Abbott. He invited Michael to attend their end-of-year screening that was taking place at Cinema du Parc that Sunday evening.
We mention this as a tip to student filmmakers and their teachers. If you are doing an end-of-year screening, invite film festivals like ours to come. If we can send someone to watch the films we will. And we will frequently tell young filmmakers on the spot what films we are interested in (and sometimes what films need more work.)
It does help to give us more than 24 hours notice though!
Who Made It? Written and Directed by Francis Martineau
Where Is It From? Montreal, Quebec, Canada
How Old Is the Director? 23
Who Is the Director? Francis Martineau comes from a small town called Tingwick. He graduated from the Film Production Program at University Concordia in 2010. He did a lot on experimental work during his years at university is now working on a film called Salvation. He is also a full time editor for Manwin and did a lot of interviews for La Scene 1425.
What Is It? Live Action Drama
How Long Is It? 3:44
What Is It About? Shot for the 2011 24 Hour Film Race, this subversive short documents a blacksmith preparing for a blind date in his workshop with a mysterious woman.
When Did YoungCuts Play It? 2011
What Awards Did It Win? Top 100 Short Films 2011 YoungCuts Film Festival, Nominated for Best Editor and Best Quebec Film.
Why Did We Play It? Blacksmith has the appearance of a short film that took months to prepare, film and edit. As the characters in the film learn, appearances can be deceiving. Francis and his team managed to pack months worth of effort into just 24 hours. The fact that we would have picked his film no matter how long it took to film and edit just underscores how impressive this achievement was.
Filmmaker Statement The 24 Hour Film Race gave us a theme to follow for our film. It was identify theft. I don't want to spoil the end of our short, but let's just say that I decided to think outside the box in my interpretation of the theme.
Who Made It? Written and Directed by Caroline de Konick
Where Is It From? Canada (Quebec)
How Old Is the Director? 25 (21 at the time of production)
Who Is the Director? Caroline de Koninck is born on October 22nd 1986, and raised in the suburbs of Montreal as the youngest of a family who are diversified in culture and work. Her mother is a theologian working in local parishes; her father, a retired business consultant; her brother, a mechanical engineer; and her eldest brother, a musician and journalist.
De Koninck is a young director who specializes in animated film. She did her undergraduate work at Concordia University where she produced many films that have entered several festivals around the world. She has tried her hand at several techniques including 3D computer animation, stopmotion, clay painting, and pencil drawing. Her favorite types of films revolve around a strong story, so she strives to become an inspirational storyteller with the aid of simple yet meaningful imagery. She believes that the story is of utmost importance, more than the look of the film: so her imagery is not overly detailed and every part of the image has a conceptual purpose.
De Koninck also has a passion for post-production. She worked on a NFB production in association with Warner Brothers Home video as a compositor and editor.
She will pursue her love in filmmaking and wishes to have her work shown around the world.
What Is It? 3D computer animation with 2D overlay.
How Long Is It? 1:14
What Is It About? Self-Portrait: Two personalities clash as a girl tries to get her
dog to obey her commands.
When Did YoungCuts Play It? 2008
Why Did YoungCuts Play It? We liked the joke and the pacing of the film, the way that the joke was told. We also liked the combination of a computer generated aesthetic combined with a more wild scribbled art aesthetic.
What Awards Did It Win? Top 100 Short Films 2008 YoungCuts Film Festival
Filmmaker Statement I wanted to make a lighthearted comedy with this film because, like any other film maker, I love to hear an audience reaction when they view my films. The visual concept for this film was to render it as simplistic as possible because the idea is simple - dog wants bone, girl wants dog to do trick. The color overlay was to demonstrate what the dog’s intentions were. The dog has a connection with the bone, not the girl. It doesn’t care about the girl at all.
Who Made It? Directed and Edited by Phil Lubenskyi
Where Is It From? Canada (Quebec)
Who Is the Director? There he stood, camera aimed at a girl eating a man alive. She then proceeded, in her ripped clothes drenched in corn syrup and red colorant, to ask him if the shot was good. He knew then and there, staring at his fabricated zombie characters, that this is where he wanted to be.
Phil Lubenskyi is a movie buff. He's been shooting movies since he borrowed his first camera at 17 years of age. Since then he's worked on many sets beyond his own; he's even won first place in the Montreal 24 hour Film Race in 2009. Whether he was a Cameraman, DOP, Director, Grip, Editor or even an Actor, Phil always pushes to learn more and more about the film industry. Alongside several corporate contracts, he worked for networks such as nuvoTV, The W Network and Zone 3. He's also practiced Machinema (making movies through computers), assisting in the production of video game trailers for Eidos Montreal.
With his team, he's recently founded Chimera Sky Studios, a multimedia company specializing in all aspects of Video Production.
What Is It? Promotional Documentary
How Long Is It? 2:04
What Is It About? Summary of the 2011 YoungCuts Film Festival based on footage from the Opening Charity Cocktail Party and the Journées de la Culture Screening.
YoungCuts Statement Phil shot and edited this short film documenting the frantic insanity that marks the opening of the YoungCuts Film Festival. He did a great job catching us at our busiest and best time.
Who Made It? Written and Directed by Francesca Abbondanza-Bergeron
Where Is It From? Canada (Quebec)
How Old Is the Director? 19
Who Is the Director? Francesca Abbondanza-Bergeron is a new filmmaker and scriptwriter. She just graduated from John Abbott College’s Creative Arts, Literature and Languages (Media Arts) program. Interested in using her films to question the boundaries between reality and fiction, she explores the human’s understanding of his own imagination. Her latest film, Switching Worlds, follows the story of a young man obsessed with women depicted in mangas and animes (Japanese cartoons). However, he gets more than he bargains for when one of his own sketches comes to life. Recently, Abbondanza-Bergeron has worked as an assistant editor for the making of Parabola Films’ À St-Henri, le 26 août. She will be pursuing her studies in the field at Concordia University next Fall.
What Is It? Live Action with Animation
How Long Is It? 4:59
What Is It About? A young otaku gets more than he bargained for when one of his sketches comes to life.
When Did YoungCuts Play It? 2011
Why Did YoungCuts Play It? YoungCuts started in 2001 as the Toronto International Teen Film Festival and while we changed our name and expanded our age limits to 25 and under in 2005, we have kept a place for teen filmmakers in our Festival.
It is sometimes a little bit harder to find a gem amongst the pile of Teen films, but when you do find one like Switching Worlds...
WOW!
The best teen filmmakers have absolutely no fear and accomplish the impossible because no one told them that it couldn't be done.
Take Francesca. Her story combines animation with live action with deceptive ease. Her story is told with economy and grace.
Our only minor quibble is evidence of her skill: the entire film has maybe five words of dialogue. Francesca came within an unnecessary sentence from telling her story purely visually.
And from what we can tell, most of the work was completed before she turned 19. No one tell her that she is not supposed to be this good this young.
What Awards Did It Win? Top 100 Short Films YoungCuts Film Festival
YoungCuts Statement As a quick follow-up, we should maybe explain how we ended up finding Switching Worlds. The Festival Director Michael Ryan was invited to lead a discussion about Best Practices for Festival Submissions during the Concordia Film Festival on the Thursday afternoon that the festival started. This lead to an invitation to take part in a panel early that Saturday morning during the festival about the future of short film. One of the other panellists was DanielSchorr who teaches animation at CEGEP John Abbott. He invited Michael to attend their end-of-year screening that was taking place at Cinema du Parc that Sunday evening.
We mention this as a tip to student filmmakers and their teachers. If you are doing an end-of-year screening, invite film festivals like ours to come. If we can send someone to watch the films we will. And we will frequently tell young filmmakers on the spot what films we are interested in (and sometimes what films need more work.)
It does help to give us more than 24 hours notice though!
Who Made It? Written and Directed by A J Korkidakis
Where Is It From? Canada (Quebec)
How Old Is the Director? 23 (22 at time of production)
Who Is the Director? AJ Korkidakis is undoubtedly a product of the digital age - so much so that he rejects the title filmmaker in favour of the more contemporary "digital media artist". Though not the catchiest title, it's the only one that does justice to the variety of media he finds himself working in: AJ works professionally in film, video, motion graphics, animation, photography and design.
Ever since graduating from Concordia University with a degree in Communications in 2010, he has jumped head first into the Montreal media scene, refusing to pass up any opportunity to collaborate with others and learn new things. His clients have ranged from organizations like the Canadian government, the Montreal Police, various museums and university organizations all the way to local musicians like Kid Koala, the Sevens Project and Lunice. He also has had a successful run at web commercial contests, having won honours from companies like Kraft, Doritos, TMZ and others.
AJ's short films and music videos have screened internationally at festivals and have been broadcast on television, and his work has received two awards from the YoungCuts film festival. He is also a founding member of the CEASE Art Collective in Montreal, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting local arts.
What Is It? Animated Music Video Using Photo Collage
Who Did the Music? Sevens Project (featuring Patrick Watson)
How Long Is It? 3:33
What Is It About? Where do memories go when we don't want them anymore? The journey of an abandoned moment from the past, searching for a new home, told through a series of photographs and stop motion animation.
When Did YoungCuts Play It? 2011
Why Did YoungCuts Play It? The amount of work necessary to create this film is staggering. At 24 frames per second, and with each character in the film requiring sequential photographs, this film probably required more than 6,000 photos which all had to be kept in the exact order. It doesn't hurt that the sweet, simple existential story that it tells perfectly fits the mournful song that it was written for.
What Awards Did It Win? Top 100 Short Films YoungCuts Film Festival, Winner of the Virgin Radio 96 Award for Best Music Video
Filmmaker Statement This was a profoundly personal project - though incredibly time consuming, the scale of the film meant it could be created nearly entirely on my own (with help from my very patient girlfriend.) This allowed the entire process to be very contemplative, an experience that was of course aided by the beautiful music I had as inspiration. The project was a nice break from the standard big crew video set - and this music video also embodies the apex of my love/hate relationship with stop motion animation.
Who Made It? Written and Directed by Adam Bagatavicius
Where Is It From? Canada (Quebec)
How Old Is the Director? 25
What Is It? Black and White Experimental
How Long Is It? 6:06
What Is It About? A food exploitation fantasia. Specializing in cringe cuisine and gastronomic humiliation, no ingredient is safe from The Chef.
When Did YoungCuts Play It? 2011
Why Did YoungCuts Play It? Foodsploitation is the best kind of experimental film.
It tells a coherent story. It's fun and funny. It rather gently satirizes horror films while simultaneously asking a serious question about how much we think about the food we eat and how we prepare it.
Our only mild criticism is that the film is just over one minute too long. Not that it isn't entertaining at 6 minutes, But if it was 5 minutes, it would have been one of our 5 nominees for Best Short Short film and would have had an excellent chance to win the category.
What Awards Did It Win? Top 100 Short Films YoungCuts Film Festival
Filmmaker Statement The Chef holds a bag of groceries hostage, and pushes them to the furthest reaches of pain and pleasure. Shot from the perspective of each ingredient, the exploitation meter ranges from terror to titillation as Coconut is impaled, Carrot undergoes a sloppy briss, Onion weeps from tickle torture, and Blueberries crack under the pressure.
Introducing Aunt Jemima in her Blaxploitation film debut, featuring The Chef's biggest comeback role since his incarceration following 'Buns on the Bunsen Burner', get ready for an explosive ending that will leave your eyes with gastro, and never able to look at food the same way again. Where did YOUR groceries sleep last night?
Who Is the Director? Eric Bent is an animator, visual artist and (sometimes) musician originally from Aylmer, Quebec but now based in Montreal. He is currently undergoing his final year in the Film Animation Program at Concordia University, but plans to continue making films well after he graduates.
What Is It? Charcoal Wash Animation
How Long Is It? 1:39
What Is It About? A young man becomes the target of a snowball thrower while making a snowman. Will he ignore it....or get back at him? (Somewhat based on a real event)
When Did YoungCuts Play It? 2011
Why Did YoungCuts Play It? Sometimes simple is best.
It is always tricky to tell a complete story in the context of a micro-short.
Snowball manages this tricky feat using simple animation techniques. (Note that by simple, we don't mean undifficult.)
While not exactly the same technique and used for humour rather than drama Snowball reminded the judges of great dramatic animated films from Montreal done in a similar style - most notably The Street.
What Awards Did It Win? Top 100 Short Films YoungCuts Film Festival
Filmmaker Statement This film is based on something my older brother did to a neighbour's kid when we were young. I figured it would be a funny idea, and the simplicity of it made it ideal and easy to animate considering the technique (charcoal on paper).
