film of the week | hop the twig

THE GREAT DIVORCE director Kyle Rideout's first short film HOP THE TWIG is featured this week on Exposure Film, a Canadian film website, reposted below.  Find the original post by Joy Loewen here, and stay tuned for the announcement of Leo Award winners on June 8th when we'll find out if he won any of the 5 awards the film was nominated for!

With an upcoming screening at the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival and five recent Leo Award nominations, Hop the Twig is my film of the week.

Written and directed by Kyle Rideout, this short film masterpiece – made for a mere $1,000 (incredible!) – is a shining example of new Canadian talent and cinema.

Described by the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival programmers as a `visual stunner` Hop The Twig is a cleverly animated fairy-tale about a little girl`s fears and wild imaginations about death.

In less than 10 minutes, I fell completely in love with the story, the animation and the little girl.

I also fell in love with the work of Kyle Rideout who together with his business partner, Josh Epstein, were participants in my final year as program manager of NSI Drama Prize (a training program for emerging shorts filmmakers).

From my first introduction to this dynamic duo through the development, production and completion of their NSI Drama Prize short Wait For Rain, these guys impressed me with their passion, skill and commitment to becoming professional filmmakers. Together they`ve established a production company, Motion 58, and are actively developing new scripts and films.

Rest assured you`ll be hearing more about these guys and seeing both Hop the Twig and Wait For Rain at festivals across the country in the coming months.

The Canadian premiere of Hop the Twig takes place in the Flora and Fauna official selection at the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival on June 2 (2 p.m. at the Royal Ontario Museum) and June 4 (9:45 p.m. at the Cineplex Odeon Varsity Cinema).

If you live in or near the Toronto area – this is one of a thousand good reasons to take in the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival which starts Tuesday June 1.

Kyle and Josh – this is your bliss. Congratulations on finding it, following it, and sharing it with the rest of the world.