Videodrunk took place from December 1st to 3rd at the The Social Capital Theatre in Toronto. King Videor (Best Film) went to Less Would Do (Louis Brousseau/Canada), Best Canadian Film went to McDavid (Conor McNally/Canada) and Audience Pick was awarded to Snatched (Emmanuelle Nicot/Belgium).
THURSDAY December 1
Off Course (Milda Baginskaite/UK)
A young woman wanders into the woods only to discover she doesn’t really fit there either.
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Rod Zegwi Dan Pikan (Azim Moollan/Mauritius)
A brief introspective into the state of mind of a woman. Her battles in life, her relationship with her daughter and walking the fine line of addiction.
Official Selection of the Cannes International Film Festival and Palm Springs International Film Festival
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Fish (Saman Hosseinpuor/Iran)
When her beloved fish’s bowl smashed and her water isn’t running, an elderly woman has to get creative to save her little friend.
Gone Fishin’ (Eli Speigel/Canada)
Upon discovering his target has killed himself, a hitman rethinks what he’s doing with his life.
WORLD PREMIERE
The Marshalls (Adeena Grubb/UK)
What seems to be an idyllic family is actually hiding some pretty nasty secrets in this Burtonesque animated short.
Honorable Mention of the Tabloid Witch Awards
“…A portrait of gothic family values, The Marshalls is sentimental yet morbid, tender yet gruesome…” -Hollywood Investigator
CANADIAN PREMIERE
One-Two-One-Seven: A Story of Japanese Internment (Brett Kodama/USA)
A young filmmaker tells the tale of one of the darkest times in American history through the eyes of his grandmother.
Special Mention of the March on Washington Film Festival
“…more than just an informative piece about internment camps…” -Los Angeles Times
CANADIAN PREMIERE
What They Believe (Shoko Hara/Germany)
A psychedelic odyssey through the experience of every day life
Best Student Film of the Animafest Zagreb
Danny Wylde (Matthew Kaundart/USA)
A film essay about former pornographic actor Chris Zeischegg aka Danny Wylde.
“If You Haven’t Seen Danny Wylde’s Latest Short Film, You Need To” -Fleshbot
Snatch Lift (Gabrielle Lenhard/USA)
Seeing acts of athleticism makes a blue haired girl excited in a different way.
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Breakfast (Tyler Byrnes/USA)
When a young man suffering from anorexia is pressured to eat breakfast by his boyfriend, the couple are thrust into an otherworld where their anxieties and frustrations are made horrifyingly real.
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Facade (Carol Nguyen/Canada)
A metaphorical exploration of the conflicting ideologies of Western and Asian cultures – individualism vs. collectivism and how human connection still exists within the system.
Back Track (Virgil Widrich/Austria)
Academy Award nominee Virgil Widrich’s 3D-remix of feature films from the 1950s and 60s.
Official Selection of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and Ann Arbor Film Festival
Everybody Knows Me (Reuben Ward/Canada)
A Yukon man loses it in this nihilistic study of toxic masculinity.
Winner of Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor at the Dead North Film Festival (Dawson City)
Syndicate (Ryan Wicks/USA)
A dystopian collage of self-provoked conspiracies. Featuring Craig Baldwin, Ricky Bates Jr. and Art Bell.
Official Selection of the San Diego Underground Film Festival
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Dear John Thanks John (Xavier Gath/USA)
There’s more to John than meets the eye in this micro-short.
Official Selection of the Boston Underground Film Festival
CANADIAN PREMIERE
FRIDAY December 2
How I Became a Movie Theatre Murderer (Aris Tyros/Canada)
A young cinephile becomes what he fears the most
2nd Place at the Mobile Motion Film Festival (Zurich)
ONTARIO PREMIERE
Afraid to Smile (Ilja Rautsi/Finland)
A simple documentary about a filmmaker coming face to face with his greatest fear…..KILLER CLOWNS.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Turbulence (Francis Luta/Canada)
As their plane slowly makes its descent, a young couple is faced with their differences as they careen through sudden pockets of turbulence.
WORLD PREMIER
Snatched (Emmanuelle Nicot/Belgium)
A young woman’s world is rocked when she discovers her foster sister has suddenly left home.
Best Short Film of the Raindance Film Festival
Official Selection of the Stockholm International Film Festival
The Wind (Jinyue Wan/USA)
A man brings a gift to his lover. But love is not always sweet.
Best Film of We Like Em Short (Baker City, Or)
Mute (Kyle Garrett Greenberg and Coloure Greene/USA)
An 80s slasher villain in a modern horror-comedy. He can’t talk but he’ll take your tongue.
Official Selection of the Sydney Underground Film Festival, Brooklyn Horror Film Festival and the South African Horror Festival (Cape Town)
“…Will Leave You Speechless.” -Dread Central
The End Of Everything As You Knew It. A Guide. (Christian Neuman/Luxembourg)
Young, beautiful and promising Jade flees from her posh London heritage background to explore her darkest fantasies and instincts in search for the newly proclaimed ultra-violence.
Best Experimental Short at the Lisbon International Film Festival
“…makes you sit on the edge of your seat in shock, whilst at the same time it draws you in with how aesthetically pleasing it is to watch…” -UK Film Review
ONTARIO PREMIERE
Imaginary Fiend (Diana Galimzyanova/Russia)
Everything goes wrong when an agoraphobic misanthropist orders himself an imaginary enemy.
Official Selection of the Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival and Macabre Faire Film Festival (Long Island)
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Less Would Do (Louis Brousseau/Canada)
Charmed by one of her fellow student’s metaphysical musings, young woman visits a strange apartment.
Official Selection of the Quebec City Film Festival and the South Texas Underground Film Festival (Corpus Christi)
ONTARIO PREMIERE
Try Again (Charles Pinion/USA)
A middle-aged failure on the verge of ending it all. However, it turns out he isn’t any better at ending his life than he is at living it.
Official Selection of the Macabro: Mexico City Horror Film Festival and the San Pedro International Film Festival
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Failure (Mick Thomas/USA)
A middle-aged failure on the verge of ending it all. However, it turns out he isn’t any better at ending his life than he is at living it. Yes, this is a double dosage.
Best Western New York Micro-Short of the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Remote Viewing (Kristen Anderson-Sauve/Canada)
A group of UFO enthusiasts on an expedition to lure a UFO are infiltrated by a pregnant woman and her psychologist.
Best Horror, Sci-Fi or Fantasy Film at the Siouxland Film Festival (Sioux City)
Official Selection of the Calgary International Film Festival and the Other Worlds Austin Film Festival
River & Oak (James Malekzadeh/Canada)
As Toronto’s Regent Park Housing project is demolished and rebuilt for the second time in its history, two women reflect on the complicated past of their neighborhood.
How to be Alone (Erez Eisenstein/Israel)
A heartbroken woman, struggling with her lonesome existence, decides to embrace solitude and transgress the mundane.
Best Israeli Film of the TVLFest (Tel Aviv)
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Saturday December 3
Death Metal (Chris McInroy/USA)
A metal loving busker is given the devil’s guitar… For real.
Official Selection of the Fantastic Fest (Austin) and Fantasia Film Festival (Montreal)
“…I love this dude’s commitment to hilariously gory practical effects…” -Birth. Movies. Death
ONTARIO PREMIERE
Stitched (Heather Taylor/USA)
When a family reunites old resentments and jealousies come to a head.
Official Selection of the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Puppets For The State (Jeffrey Moore/USA)
The State of North Carolina’s spokes-puppets risk their jobs with the state to go on a crime filled, drug-fueled, gay sex heavy bender.
Honorable Mention at the TeaDance Gay And Lesbian Film Festival (Greenville, NC)
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Dog Bowl (Gordy Hoffman/USA)
Acclaimed screenwriter Gordy Hoffman’s take on a heartbroken girl spiraling through life stumbles upon the true nature of her existence after stealing the vest off of a service dog.
Competitive Selection of the Sundance Film Festival
“…It is impeccable absurdism, the kind that inspires both wonderful and gleeful delight…” -Birth. Movies. Death
CANADIAN PREMIERE
teleVision Quest (Terry Cover/USA)
A ridiculous parody of overly serious experimental films.
VIDEODRUNK’S WOODEN SPOON
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Technicolor Angst (Ketchup Freeland/USA)
Two bad bitches live the perfect lives in their psychedelic funhouse but that goes to shit when one moves out and a basic bitch moves in.
3rd Place at the Bideodromo Experimental Film Festival (Bilbao)
Official Selection of the South Texas Underground Film Festival (Corpus Christi) and AntiMatter (Victoria)
ONTARIO PREMIERE
Face Value (Derek Lukosius/Canada)
When 9-year-old James loses his first baby tooth, he devises a plan to exploit the tooth fairy, but with twisted repercussions.
Official Selection of the Hamilton Film Festival and Puerto Rico Horror Film Fest (San Juan)
Welcome to DeLish (Jonathan Choi/Canada)
The twisted secrets of haute retail are examined in this charming thriller.
Official Selection of the Hamilton Film Festival
Revolution (Joffrey Schmitt/France)
After a series of vicious attacks, an anti-reality TV terrorist group is surrounded by the police in a TV studio. Stranded and looking for an out, they are unaware that the police are releasing a top secret weapon designed to eliminate them.
“…you would be very stupid to deprive yourself of this…” -Toxic Crypt
CANADIAN PREMIERE
byefurnow (Michael Elliott Dennis/USA)
On the suggestion of a stranger in a bar, a bereaved pet owner resorts to a mobile app in his search for closure.
WORLD PREMIERE
Alchemy (Brandon Polanco/USA)
A job interview gets weird.
Best Cinematography of the Milan International Film Festival
McDavid (Conor McNally/Canada)
An Edmonton Oilers fan dreams about the future of the franchise while preparing an unsettling gift for Edmonton’s “Second Coming” Connor McDavid.
Audience Choice at the Pile of Bones Underground Film Festival (Regina)
“…explores the dark side of our city’s obsession with hockey.” -Edmonton Examiner
Culvert Affairs (Kelly Hill/Canada)
A woman stumbles upon an underground society that might just change her life.
Official Selection of the Silver Wave Film Festival (Fredericton)
ONTARIO PREMIERE
Candy Skin (Kyle Martellacci/Canada)
After beginning his new medication, a man not only finds himself rotting and alone in an empty suburban nightmare.
Official Selection of the Pile of Bones Underground Film Festival (Regina), Fright Night Film Fest (Louisville) and Nightmare Film Festival (Columbus)
“…a gripping exercise that assaults viewers’ eardrums almost as much as their eyeballs…” -Gruesome Magazine
Last Stop Coney Island (A.K. Espada/USA)
After the brutal murder of her roommate, a woman rides the subway in a city largely populated by androids.
Official Selection of the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Judges
Matthew Rooney is the founder of Videodrunk, zinester and journalist. He has directed several shorts that have been screened at festivals in Canada and the US.
Lex Corbert is a filmmaker and critic Her writings have been featured on Vague Visage, Eye Myth Toronto Guardian and XO Jane.
Emil Terziev is a filmmaker. He co-wrote the recent horror festival favourite “My Brother Charlie”.
Shahbaz Khayambashi is a critic and art and film curator. He runs the Citizens Committee on Moral Hygiene. His writings can be found on Fresh from the Theatre and Wylie Writes.
Jennifer Linton is an artist and university professor. Her short “Toronto Alice” has screened at festivals all over North America and Europe and she is currently teaching at OCAD University and Seneca College.
Special Thanks to: Amsterdam Brewing Co., Boston Underground Film Festival, Social Capital, Troi Mailing services, Modern Superior, Toronto Pop Corn Company, Eyesore Cinema, Manic Coffee
videodrunk 