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Hey, Toronto: Fantasia and CFC present The Night Shift, a collection of out-there genre shorts

On June 9th at the Bloor Cinema, you can catch a three-pronged program of ghastly shorts entitled The Night Shift. Part of the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival (running from the 5th to the 10th) and co-presented by Fantasia, it showcases the latest and gnarliest in international work, from Toronto to Estonia. The full program is below; for more on the fest, visit their site.

DEPENDENTS
Reliant on others for support and sustenance: brother, mummy, granny, zombie

REQUIEM FOR A C.H.U.D.
D: Stephen Strubbs | Canada | 2011 | 6 minutes | Fiction | TORONTO PREMIERE
A Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller seeks retribution after a traumatic death in the family. Forget an eye for an eye…

I AM YOUR GRANDMA
D: Jillian Mayer | United States | 2011 | 1 minute | Experimental | CANADIAN PREMIERE
In the future, you get love by video. An uproarious vlog dedicated to an unborn grandchild.

ODETTE
D: Nicolas Bacon | Canada | 2011 | 10 minutes | Fiction | TORONTO PREMIERE
A whiny, angsty, existential family dinner that ends as it should… with Grandma taking charge!

CTIN! (CTIЙ!)
D: Cyrille Drevon | France | 2011 | 14 minutes | Fiction | TORONTO PREMIERE
You’re invited to a dinner party! Strange soups, re-animated guests and obtuse conversations are on the menu. RSVP to the mad doctor.

THE CAPTURED BIRD
D: Jovanka Vuckovic | Canada | 2012 | 12 minutes | Fiction | WORLD PREMIERE
An idyllic playground, a perfect angel, a nuclear family. A little girl wanders out to a mysterious mansion and witnesses the birth of five horrifying monsters.

GHOST
D: Tobias Gundorff | Denmark | 2011 | 8 minutes | Fiction | NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
A little ghost wanders the afterlife, trying to find her way back home to her parents. An expressionistic look at grief in this world and the next.

CHILDREN OF THE DARK
D: Scott Brian Belyea | Canada | 2012 | 10 minutes | Fiction | TORONTO PREMIERE
Two young boys hold onto the past and search for their mother while struggling to survive in a world gone to hell. A dystopian thriller that hits close to home.

THE UNLIVING (ÅTERFÖDELSEN)
D: Hugo Lilja | Sweden | 2011 | 28 minutes | Fiction | TORONTO PREMIERE
Thirty years after a zombie outbreak, people are taming the undead and using them as cheap labour. Katrine catches ‘em and Mark lobotomizes ‘em. They’re an awesome team, but work is starting to bleed into their relationship.

CO-DEPENDENCE
Unhealthy love between foot and mouth, fetus and fiend, living and dead.

CROWN
D: AG Rojas | United States | 2012 | 10 minutes | Fiction | CANADIAN PREMIERE
Crack is whack! Check out what all the middle-aged white dudes are doin’, and take a hit off this supremely bizarre mix of street and meat – the tender, sweet, innocent kind.

MOXIE
D: Stephen Irwin | United Kingdom | 2011 | 6 minutes | Animation | TORONTO PREMIERE
A baby bear is found dead. His last days are retraced in this pitch-black animation from innovator Stephen Irwin (The Black Dog’s Princess) as we count down to his demise. Sick, violent and twisted – just the way we like it.
Screened at Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, Annecy International Animation Festival and Sundance Film Festival

THE MYTH OF ROBO WONDER KID
D: Joel Mackenzie | Canada | 2011 | 3 minutes | Animation | TORONTO PREMIERE
This cool anime music video blends Yo Gabba Gabba, and Frankenstein to create a catchy dead time story about how a family is what (and how) you make it.

IN A MUSTY, MISTY THICKET (PÖHELKÖN HÖNKÄ)
D: Maarit Suomi-Våånånen | Finland, France | 2012 | 13 minutes | Experimental | NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Pik Mama and Missy are stranded on a deserted island in this uncanny post-apocalyptic twist on master-slave dynamics.

BLACK DOLL (PRITA NOIRE)
D: Sofia Carrillo | Mexico | 2011 | 8 minutes | Animation | TORONTO PREMIERE
A creepy tale of two sisters bonded and bound by the ties that bind: co-dependence, separation anxiety and routine. An incredible mix of time-lapse and puppetry.
Screened at Annecy International Animation Festival

UPSTAIRS
D:  Jesper Maintz | Denmark | 2011 | 38 minutes | Fiction | NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
The horroromance genre has been invented! A man hates his girlfriend but hates being alone just as much. A dystopian view of relationships to be sure, this fresh take on settling for the lesser of two evils reveals the horror and disgust lurking in romance.

BELIEVE THE DANCE
D: Thomas Berg | Norway | 2012 | 15 minutes | Fiction | WORLD PREMIERE

Plumber, assistant, restaurant manager, dentist. No matter what you do, the power of dance will find you. Absurdist, hilarious, give in to the daaaaaance.  You know you want to.INDEPENDENCE
Separate yet equal, what skin is to flesh, not what Chang was to Eng.

ADJUST TRACKING
D: Matt O’Mahoney | Canada | 2012 | 5 minutes | Fiction | WORLD PREMIERE
Flashback to the 80s in this homage to anthology horror on VHS. A teenage fanboy extracts revenge on his drunk dad for interrupting his movie night with a little help from his onscreen friends.

RABBID
D: Pedot & Nieto | France | 2012 | 4 minutes | Animation | WORLD PREMIERE
The hand of God and a fraction of animal rabies are bored… huh? Exactly.

BOBBY YEAH
D: Robert Morgan | United Kingdom | 2011 | 23 minutes | Animation | TORONTO PREMIERE
Bobby likes stealing stuff. But his sticky fingers get him into trouble and this time he’s pressed his luck too far. Visceral and viscous, this stop-motion gorror is all tongue… and vomit and orifices and shape-shifting pustules.
Nominee for BAFTA award for Best Animated Short Film
Screened at Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival

BODY MEMORY (KEHA MÄLU)
D: Ülo Pikkov | Estonia | 2011 | 9 minutes | Animation | TORONTO PREMIERE
What tale would a tree tell if you gave it a canvas and pencil? This experimental film looks at the idea that our bodies remember more than just our individual experiences, but the pain and sorrow of those who came before us.
Screened at Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival

DECORATION
D: Ben Wheele | United Kingdom | 2011 | 6 minutes | Animation | NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
An elegant vase inhabits the body of a young girl and mounts a subversive theatrical production using crazy porcelain figurines, warm puppets and a cellular stage.

THROUGH THE WEEPING GLASS: ON THE CONSOLATIONS OF LIFE EVERLASTING (LIMBOS & AFTERBREEZES IN THE MÜTTER MUSEUM)
D: Quay Brothers | United States | 2011 | 31 minutes | Documentary | CANADIAN PREMIERE
The inimitable Quay Brothers conduct a tour of the medical anomalies and curiosities on display at the Mütter Museum. Body horror is elevated to high art in this doc-meets-archive porn.
Screened at Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)

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