The 11th Annual Milton Film Festival is fast approaching, bringing with it a unique opportunity for film lovers to explore a wide variety of short films by up and coming filmmakers from Milton, Halton, and across Canada.

This year’s Festival will include a record 34 short films, all of which will be available to stream online, where audience members can chose from among three themed ‘samplers’ for $10, or purchase a ticket for all 34 short films for $25. Several shorts by local and regional filmmakers will also be shown on the big screen at the FirstOntario Arts Centre Milton, paired with a feature film and included in the ticket.

The Milton Film Festival’s opening night gala is the documentary Mr Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe, which has been paired with the short film, The Fabricated Falsehood of Mr Lankly’s Tall Tales directed by Humber graduate Tania Goncalves. A recent graduate of Humber College’s Film & Television Production program, Tania’s also produced the film Love After Life, which is playing online in the Lighter Side Shorts Sampler. Tania has also produced two PSAs during her time at Humber, one notably being for Dyslexia Canada, an organization which has a special place in her heart as she grew up with dyslexia herself. The associate producer and creative consultant on Mr Lankly’s Tall Tales is Kieran Stanley, a lifelong resident of Milton. Much of this film was planned and imagined in Kieran’s living room, not far from arts center! Kieran says this short film demonstrates the importance of heart and goodness in a world that often seems too cynical. Kieran also produced the short film The Last Goodbye, directed by Humber graduate Gordon Yarley – available in the Dramatic Shorts Sampler online.

Saturday morning, catch the short film One More Time with Feeling playing alongside Ken Loach’s The Old Oak. This short film is also available online, in the Lighter Side Shorts Sampler, and it tells the story of Cecillia, who is faced with her mortality and suddenly must take down her church group arch-nemesis, Lucy-Anne. Created by an almost entirely female and queer-indentifying folks, the short film is written and directed by Marissa Bondi, a TMU graduate who will also be attending the festival and introducing the film. She says, “Comedy is healing. As a young queer woman raised in the Catholic Church I wanted to explore the cut-throat social climate of a church group and the pains of conforming. By exploring mortality, regret, and identity through a gossiping bunch of church group gals, I hope that the honesty of the comedy will have viewers ask themselves, if they had only one more time with feeling, what would change?”

Then, the short film Going Going, directed by Toronto-via-Halifax-born Fiona Highet, will screen before the feature film, Suze. Director Fiona Highet got her start as a theatre actor, primarily in new Canadian plays. After twenty years and roles on numerous series, in theatre and independent films, Fiona launched a second career as a writer, and spent three seasons as a writer and story editor on Saving Hope (CTV/BellMedia).

Duet plays both online (Local & Regional Shorts Sampler) and in-person on Sunday January 28th with the feature documentary film, Summer Qamp. The short film is directed by Daisy Gao, a Sheridan student from Mississauga. After studying film history and theories in Italy, she has been learning film production in Canada, specializing in directing. Her short documentaries and films have been selected for several film festivals in North America and Asia.

Finally, the festival wraps up with the wonderful short, It’s About Time, written and directed by Adam Pedersen and starring MFF alumni Paul Rivers. On the worst day of his life, a grieving call centre employee (Rivers) acts irrationally in the face of life or death. You can catch this film online in the Lighter Side Shorts Sampler, and in-person on Sunday night at 5pm, paired alongside the delightful feature film, Scrapper. Both Adam and Paul will be in attendance.

Many more short films available exclusively online also feature connections to our local community and can be found as part of the Local & Regional Shorts Sampler.

These and many more short films will be available online from January 26th through Feb 5th. Tickets are available at miltonfilmfest.com, or at mff11shorts.eventive.org.