WWSFF #5: We've only just begun...and now we're finished.

The WWSFF is now over. Done. Finito.

And, even though it only lasted five days, I’m nonetheless wiped. It’s tough trying to cram in as many daily screenings as possible while still working (sorta). But my fest was great, and it was chock full of excellent little flicks.

I wanted to hold off posting my last WWSFF Diary entry until I could get my hands (or eyes, as it were) on the list of award winners. I’ve been checking and rechecking my email and the official fest site but, so far, nuthin’. I’ll post them in a festival epilogue tomorrow, along with my own personal faves. In the meantime, today’s movies...

Weary from several nights of not-nearly-enough sleep, I only managed two programmes today before packing it in. First up was Shorts for Shorties 2, followed by Official Selection 12: Honey I Screwed Up the Kids, a collection of shorts dealing with parenting, children, teens and the like. [A quick aside to Lois, who asked how films wind up as part of an “official selection” programme: all the filmmakers submit their work the same way, and then the programmers decide which films go where.]

Maybe it was my fatigue, but I found a number of the films to be decidedly meh today. I found myself sliding lower and lower into my seat and my eyelids getting heavier and heavier. The only ones I loved were the pair of Aardman Animation offerings, Purple and Brown (7/8) and Pib and Pog: Peter’s Room (7/8). But, really, what’s not to love? They’re adorable and funny. If you don’t believe me, have a look for yourselves! (God bless the internet!)

not the Pib and Pog short I saw today, but still good

a whole whack of Purple and Brown!

A number of the shorts in the ...Screwed Up the Kids pack were rather sombre. Drug overdoses, suicide, school shootings. Not exactly feel-good material, so it was hard to find one about which to rave...until Christmas in Huddersfield (7/8) hit the screen. It’s a doc about a 1977 Christmas concert in the titular Yorkshire town...when the Sex Pistols decided to perform for children. It was fantastic, and it blends archival video footage of the event with the recollections of the (now-adult) kids who were in attendance. Seeing Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious, grinning widely, slicing cake and goofing around with pre-teens was unexpectedly sweet.

After the screening, I filled in my final audience ballot, hopped on the bus and came home to collapse on the couch. Kudos, as always, to the WWSFF staff for putting on another delightful, virtually glitch-free festival! It remains one of the most relaxed, publicly accessible and affordable tickets in town. See you next year!

(Or, if TIFF smartens up, perhaps I’ll see some of you in September!)

Total shorts screened today: 18

Total shorts screened at the WWSFF 2007 by me: 109!