For once, short is good.

For once, short is good.

Keep it short. That’s the motto of the first annual Vancouver Short Film Festival happening this October 23-24. With all the film festivals happening this month, you may have a hard time keeping track. The Vancouver Short Film Festival’s obvious difference is that it showcases short films under 15 minutes that are easy to watch in length, but make no mistake – they don’t compromise quality and story.

Formerly known as the Vancouver Student Film Festival, the festival is now expanding to include a category for professional filmmakers to showcase their work. This year there will also be a screening of international shorts. What does this mean for the festival? By including these new categories, the festival will be showing some of the world’s best short films and the quality of films will be better than ever.

The two-day festival has been divided into three different screenings and the variety of films promise something for everyone. Highlighted shorts include an animated short about bloggers in Iran (Iran: A Nation of Bloggers), a dystopic film shot in one take in reverse (Latte America), and a documentary on the Canadian Paralympic Boccia team (Let’s Play Boccia!). International shorts hail from Cannes, Tribeca, Palm Springs, Sundance, London, Yorkton, Ffresh, the Genies, and the Oscars. The festival will close with the multi-award winning BC film Centigrade: the only short film to break the iTUNES Top 10 downloads in the US, UK, and Canada, and the only Canadian short film to be developed into both a TV series and feature film.

While the films provide entertainment, those of you interested in learning more about short films may want to check out Saturday’s panel. This year’s panel topic is “Making Short Films in Vancouver: Benefits, Drawbacks, and the Potential” and will feature Andrew Williamson, Kris Elgstrand, Ann Marie Fleming, and moderator Kellie Ann Benz.

If you’ve never seen a short film, it’s not all that surprising. Short films haven’t received significant exposure in Canada, but the Vancouver Short Film Festival hopes to change that. The organization works hard to achieve its mandate of promoting the BC film industry by building ties between emerging and established filmmakers. More important though, is being able to provide an arena to celebrate BC’s talented local artists. Many artists have received significant exposure through VSFF’s previous student festival as well as a number of monetary awards.  This year, over $19,000 in prizes will be decided by an industry panel and awarded at the festival after party.

All events will take place in the VIFC Vancity Theatre at 1181 Seymour Street in Vancouver.  The official VSFF after party and awards ceremony take place on Saturday night in the Vancity Theatre atrium and is free with proof of ticket or pass purchase.

Or you could stay at home falling asleep to that long movie you rented.  Our recommendation? Keep it short.