Hot In Cleveland: The Best Short Films at the 36th Cleveland International Film Festival

The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) announced their line-up for this year's festival yesterday and among their selections are some of my favourite short films from this and last year—including a film which I predict will (or at least should) be nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at next year's Academy Awards: Curfew

The film, which was written and directed by and stars Shawn Christensen, is about a young man named Richie who, at the lowest point of his life, receives a phone call from his estranged sister who asks him to look after his nine-year old niece for a few hours. Not surprisingly, it recently won the prestigious International Audience Award at the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival (arguably the most important short film festival in the world). You can watch the trailer here:

For those of you who are interested, the other short films screening at CIFF which I have seen and love are listed below, along with their trailers. Three of them—Incident in New Baghdad, Raju and Wildlife—are nominated for this year's Academy Awards.

Dik (directed by Christopher Stollery)

Incident in New Baghdad (directed by James Spione)

The Palace (directed by Anthony Maras)

Raju (directed by Max Zähle)

Sorry, Rabbi (directed by Mark Slutsky)




Stanley Pickle (directed by Victoria Mather)

Thief (directed by Julian Higgins)

Tsuyako (directed by Mitsuyo Miyazaki)

Wild Life (directed by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby)

CIFF, which runs from March 22 to April 1, 2012, is one of my favourite film festivals in the US. I had the privilege of attending as a member of their documentary jury a few years ago and while I was there, I was struck by the festival's impeccable programming and by their lovely, committed and enthusiastic audiences.

Here's to another great festival, CIFF—and congratulations to all the filmmakers with films screening at the festival! I can't wait to see them all.