Toronto Lift-Off Film Festival 2023 - Network Round Shorts
Thursday 6th July - Thursday 13th July
1.
Bender
Dir. Joe Camara
USA
Logline: Ready to meet with a hockey recruiter after practice, a young promising captain learns not all mistakes are made on the ice.
2.
Hercules
Dir. Alec Palumbo
USA
Logline:A high school wrestler uses steroids and bad influence to try outshine his little brother for his last season.
3.
Endurance
Dir. Imre van Opstal
Netherlands
Logline: 'Whether it's running a marathon, climbing a mountain, or simply making it through a difficult day, endurance is what enables people to persist and succeed. Without it, people would give up at the first sign of difficulty.
4.
The Sky is Falling
Dir. Stephan Stelman
Israel
Logline: On the eve of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement in Judaism, fifteen-year-old Uri ignites a billboard while drunk with his friends. When the tragic outcome of his act is discovered, Uri and his friends are brought into police custody. When his father arrives to the rescue, Uri is confronted with questions regarding responsibility and status. He needs to decide whether to pin the blame on his underprivileged friend, Mark, whom everybody seems already to suspect is the culprit, or accept the consequences of his actions.
5.
Hello, Operator
Dir. Cam DeMars
USA
Logline: An insurmountable task turns into clarity.
6.
Black Dog
Dir. Borbála Tölcsér
Hungary
Logline: Is it necessary to overcome anxiety? Or is it possible at all? When the woman meets a dog one day, the line between imagination and reality becomes cloudy.
7.
L.A. RUSH
Dir. John-Michael Triana
USA
Logline: Riley informs on a case and gets released from prison early. He has 24 hours to get out of LA before he gets the weight put on him by his ex-crew. But he can’t leave without two things: money and his girlfriend, Lily. Her loyalty gives them the edge to pull a heist, but as the clock starts ticking and the heat starts rising, old feelings mix with new ones, and their bond is put to the test.
8.
Uprooted
Dir. Ghada Youssef
Lebanon
Logline: We are resisting, but we can no longer keep grip of our Lebanon.
9.
Tattoo
Dir. Liam Andrew Karp
Canada
Logline: A young boy discovers a darkness in his family when an estranged grandfather comes to stay overnight.
10.
Temporal Ephemera
Dir. Massimo Russo
Canada
Logline: A young woman tries to find her creative voice through fractured time.
11.
Her Ordinary World
Dir. Samuel Dayomi
Canada
Logline: A window into the world of a young mother of two.
12.
FEMALE - Why not just filmmaker?
Dir. Isabella Presnal
Finland
Logline: FEMALE is a documentary that investigates where women are today if they’re not in Hollywood, and why women are more likely to be relegated to their gender than any aspect of their actual work. It’s not only about the inequality in Hollywood, but it focuses more on independent filmmakers and digital creators. The film shares the experiences of a multitude of women in various positions, at different points in their careers, and across changing platforms. This work is a starting point in diving deeper into the historical impact and improving industry standards.
13.
Ginny's Enterprise
Dir. Suzanne Marie Moreau
Canada
Logline: An imaginative 10-year-old “Trekkie” struggles to gain fairness and love from her blindly patriarchal mother and equal status with her bullying brother in the 1960's white man's world.
14.
Mapping Love
Dir. Mary Alice Alice McMillan
USA
Logline: Filmmaker Mary Alice McMillan explores the geography of her family’s past to learn why every woman in her family has developed breast cancer and where her own breast cancer-related genetic mutation may have originated. Her mom and aunt join her on a journey back to their birthplace in Niagara Falls, New York, just blocks away from the Love Canal Superfund site.
15.
Prêt-á-Poppy
Dir. Zoë Nelson
USA
Logline: Poppy is a greatly misunderstood fashion design student who is pushed to the limit by her professor and competitive classmates as she designs her ambitious fashion show costume.
16.
We Are All In This Together
Dir. Mitch Verigin
Canada
Logline: At its core, our film is a family drama with a twist. As an alien invasion threatens humanity's very existence, an estranged family must put aside their differences and work together to survive. But as tensions rise and secrets are revealed, will they be able to unite and overcome their personal struggles to fend off the extraterrestrial threat?
17.
Out of the Rain
Dir. Elena Arsenchuk
Canada
Logline: On a rainy evening, Sarah, a lonely widow, opens her door to a lost stranger named James who asks to use her phone. Despite James being withdrawn and tense, Sarah welcomes him in and they start to form a bond. As they talk, Sarah opens up about her struggles since the death of her husband and James hints at his own fractured relationship with his father. However, the conversation takes a dark turn when James confesses that he killed his father. Sarah must confront her own past mistakes as she tries to navigate the situation, while James struggles with his own demons. When sirens sound, Sarah fears for her safety until James reveals an unexpected act of redemption.