On Nov. 22, the second edition of Twelve Vacancies Film Festival (TVFF) ran its selections to a sold-out audience at 3475 rue Peel. The atmosphere was lively as the venue filled with local filmmakers, friends, family, and other audience members excited to view the short films. A group of volunteers and coordinators kept the crowd entertained with a selection of stickers and free popcorn—and by asking viewers for their Letterboxd “Four Favourites” to please the cinema nerd inside all of us.
TVFF is a non-profit, student-run festival that selects its programming through a student jury. Per its mission statement, the festival focuses on “screening the uncanny, experimental, and weird” with under-10-minute short films created by youth or student Canadian filmmakers. McGill student Amelia McCluskey, U3 Arts, has been the primary coordinator of the TVFF since its inception earlier this year.
The 12 chosen films ranged from a few one-minute-long experimental stylistic shorts to intense ten-minute character studies. Some of my personal standouts included “Tucker’s Puppets” by Jaida Sanada, a bizarre study on fear materialized through a televised puppet show. It features a hilarious plot point that shockingly involves the infamous Tucker Carlson. Another, “Over the Hatch” by Nevin Louie, is set in the Plateau, following the filmmaker and his roommates’ quest to access their apartment’s roof, told with effective dry and situational humour.
“Look” follows a lonely young girl who makes a new friend who may be too good to be true. In an interview with The Tribune, Georgia Acken, the 17-year-old actor and first-time director behind the work, expressed that her debut film has been received as more sobering and emotional than she had anticipated prior to the premiere. While first writing the script on a plane, she intended it to be firmly in the horror genre because she was fascinated with children in horror films. Creating the film was a collaborative effort, as she cast her little sister in the central role of Ellie and filmed it on her family’s scenic property in British Columbia. Her work as an actress, particularly with women filmmakers, was instrumental in her filmmaking process for “Look.”
“It’s been so cool to watch them work, and I feel like I’ve learned so much from them about filmmaking […] and being the boss of your own creation,” Acken said.
“Ant Detective,” directed by Quinn Funk, a film production student at the University of British Columbia (UBC), kept the crowd very entertained with impeccable comedic timing. The short animated film follows a clueless detective who doesn’t realize that his magnifying glass may be the cause of the very trail of homicides he’s following. In an interview, Quinn revealed his animation style inspiration came from seeing storyboards of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, where the animators used boxes for the background and would animate 2D characters in front. “Ant Detective” follows this by using a mix of paper drawings, animation, and real-life cinematography that blend into a unique visual style.
At the end of the screening, everyone in attendance voted for their favourite film of the night. The Fan Favourite Award went to “Play Along” by Esandi Amarakoon, a local Montreal filmmaker. The surreal, inventive multi-media short film tells the story of a child dealing with the weariness they feel regarding their parent. Using a blend of animation and yarn, the film achieved a unique, visually stunning style. The ending left room for debates on its hopeful or melancholic potential.
Twelve Vacancies is an exciting new film festival for McGill and the larger Montreal cultural scene. As my first short-film festival, I left with a new appreciation for the medium and felt galvanized by the creativity that I saw to see more short films.
Twelve Vacancies Film Festival ran at 3475 Rue Peel on Nov. 22. TVFF will accept short film submissions in early 2025 for their next screening in the winter semester.
