The young artists and filmmakers of Toronto rise up this weekend with a showcase all their own. With the Worldwide Short Film Fest on hiatus, the youth are left to pick up the slack as far as shorts go.

The Toronto Youth Short Film Festival, founded in 2009, returns this year to showcase the best talented young filmmakers in the city have to offer. The slate of films has expanded this year in size and scope, ranging from comedy to drama, animation to documentary, offering thoughts on topics such as dating, environmentalism, education, technology, and health.

With five different thematic groupings, the festival is filled with films spurred by unbridled imagination, curiosity, passion, and even wisdom. Below are just a few of the great films the event has to offer.

The event takes place Saturday, June 15^th from 3pm at Innis Town Hall, University of Toronto
located at 2 Sussex Ave. near Bloor and St. George. For more information, visit: http://www.torontoyouthshorts.ca/

Fist of Finance – Stages of Life, 8:30pm

Cute, quirky, and filled with messages both literal and figurative, this animated short pits a bespectacled taxman against a hulking martial artist. With plenty of laughs, the animation evokes Powerpuff Girls­, while the sly wit offers laughs for all ages.

Melissa Allen, Animation, 4:07

The Forbidden Room – At Odds with Our Surroundings, 5:30pm

A seven-year-old boy is being held back – suffering from hemophilia, his exubrence and energy must be kept in check, with his worried parents always watching. The mother is ever the cautious one, while the father less so, and while they sleep, a sense of adventure awakens in the boy.

Kristina Mileska, Drama, 10:00

The Ties Between Us – Tensions, 4pm

The past informs our present, and some memories can’t be forgotten so easily. That is what happens for Jack, a young man ill at ease and in need of a friend. He becomes close with Amy, and that the hardships of the past are something we don’t have to go through alone. This intimate, powerful drama is both challenging and intensely emotional.

Christer Harris, Drama, 10:00

Ghost Dating – Stages of Life, 8:30pm

This well-crafted documentary and fascinating documentary follows dating coach and matchmaker Stacie Ikka and her online relationship service called Ghost Dating.  She is the consultant who, more or less, corresponds and starts relationships with people on another’s behalf. Her clients are either too busy or too wary of online dating, and thus Ikka, will chat, arrange, and even pick out people to date. Illuminating and non-judgmental, Ghost Dating is a refreshing and curious entry into the festival.

Alison Rheaume, Documentary, 9:47

Sleepy Time – Eye of the Beholder

A nighttime musing about restlessness, one boy struggles to fall asleep. Exhausting every resource in an effort to get exhausted, it would seem nothing can rival the power of anticipation.

Jonny Micay, Comedy, 2:53